Image artifacts in concurrent transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and fMRI 
caused by leakage currents: Modeling and compensation

Weiskopf, Nikolaus; Josephs, Oliver; Ruff, Christian C.; Blankenburg, Felix; Featherstone, Eric; Thomas, Anthony; Bestmann, Sven; Driver, Jon; Deichmann, Ralph

doi:10.1002/jmri.21749

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Image artifacts in concurrent transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and fMRI caused by leakage currents: Modeling and compensation

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Weiskopf, N., Josephs, O., Ruff, C. C., Blankenburg, F., Featherstone, E., Thomas, A., et al. (2009). Image artifacts in concurrent transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and fMRI caused by leakage currents: Modeling and compensation. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 29(5), 1211-1217. doi:10.1002/jmri.21749.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-0027-BB5C-3

Abstract

PURPOSE: To characterize and eliminate a new type of image artifact in concurrent transcranial magnetic stimulation and functional MRI (TMS-fMRI) caused by small leakage currents originating from the high-voltage capacitors in the TMS stimulator system. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The artifacts in echo-planar images (EPI) caused by leakage currents were characterized and quantified in numerical simulations and phantom studies with different phantom-coil geometries. A relay-diode combination was devised and inserted in the TMS circuit that shorts the leakage current. Its effectiveness for artifact reduction was assessed in a phantom scan resembling a realistic TMS-fMRI experiment. RESULTS: The leakage-current-induced signal changes exhibited a multipolar spatial pattern and the maxima exceeded 1% at realistic coil-cortex distances. The relay-diode combination effectively reduced the artifact to a negligible level. CONCLUSION: The leakage-current artifacts potentially obscure effects of interest or lead to false-positives. Since the artifact depends on the experimental setup and design (eg, amplitude of the leakage current, coil orientation, paradigm, EPI parameters), we recommend its assessment for each experiment. The relay-diode combination can eliminate the artifacts if necessary.