Abstract #1781

Using Statistical Fiber Anatomy in Combination with Electromagnetic Field Simulation in Deep Brain Stimulation for Improved Characterization of Specific Target Areas in Tremor & Parkinsons Disease Patients

Burkhard Mdler¹, Kaveh Mehdiani¹, Volker A. Coenen¹

¹Dep. of Neurosurgery, Div. of Stereotaxy & MR-based OR-Techniques, University Bonn, Bonn, Germany

DBS is a technique that delivers continuous electric stimulation through permanently into the brain implanted electrodes. Depending on diagnosis and symptoms, different anatomical targets have been chosen for stimulation in movement disorders, depression or obsessive compulsive disorders. Discussion to date focused mostly on the sole definition of DBS-targets with little debate about their important remote connectivity. We believe that it is this connectivity that might explain clinical improvement and side effects in distinct DBS procedures. Our study indicates that better target areas by means of specific WM-tracts might exist for various DBS-procedures.