Numeric Investigation of Brain Tumor Influence on the Current Distributions During Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

This study constructed a series of high-resolution realistic human-head models with brain tumors, and numerically investigated the influence of brain tumor's location and grade on the current distributions, under different electrode montages during tDCS. The threshold area and the peak current density were also derived and analyzed in the region of interest. The simulation result showed that it is safe to apply tDCS on the patients with brain tumors to treat their neuropsychiatric conditions and cancer pain caused by the tumor; although considerable changes of the current distributions are induced by the presence of a brain tumor. In addition, several observations on the global and local influences of tumor grade and possible edema have been made as well. These findings should be helpful for researchers and clinical doctors to treat patients with brain tumors. This study is also the first numerical study to fill in the gap of tDCS applications on the patients with brain tumors.