Acoustoelectric imaging of time-varying current produced by a clinical deep brain stimulator

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective therapy for dyskinesia associated with treatments for Parkinson's disease (PD). While current surgical placement of a DBS implant depends on stereotactic coordinates with computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging for precise localization of the electrode sites, the actual current densities produced by the DBS are not directly observed. This study proposes a novel ultrasound (US) method to visualize these current distributions produced by a DBS via acoustoelectric (AE) imaging. AE imaging uses a focused US beam to locally modulate tissue resistivity due to the AE effect, producing a detectable oscillating voltage from a current flow. The primary goal for this study is to assess baseline performance of AE technology for detecting and resolving current densities near a DBS implant using clinically-relevant stimulation parameters.