Closed-loop neurostimulation in real-time for the treatment of pathological brain rhythms

Abstract: Mental disorders may exhibit pathological brain rhythms and neurostimulation promises to alleviate of patients' symptoms by modifying these rhythms. Today, most neurostimulation schemes are open-loop, i.e. administer experimental stimulation protocols independent of the patients brain activity which may yield a sub-optimal treatment. We propose a closed-loop feedback control scheme estimating an optimal stimulation based on observed brain activity. The optimal stimulation is chosen according to a user-defined target frequency distribution, which permits frequency tuning of the brain activity in real-time. The mathematical description details the major control elements and applications to biologically realistic simulated brain activity illustrate the scheme's possible power in medical practice. Clinical relevance - The proposed neurostimulation control theme promises to permit the medical personnel to tune a patient's brain activity in real-time.