ReviewBrain stimulation
Can transcranial electric stimulation with multiple electrodes reach deep targets?
Review in Brain stimulation. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04780152 (Assessment of Efficacy and Safety of Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation), which is not on this map. Cited by 69 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Assessment of Efficacy and Safety of Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (TDCS) in Pediatric and Teenage Patients With Major Depressive Disorder During COVID-19 Pandemics
Who cites it
69 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Brain stimulation targets for chronic pain: Insights from meta-analysis, functional connectivity and literature review.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2024Pooled it
- Transcranial current stimulation in epilepsy: A systematic review of the fundamental and clinical aspects.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- Repetitive temporal interference stimulation improves jump performance but not the postural stability in young healthy males: a randomized controlled trial.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2024Trial
- Interindividual variability of electric fields during transcranial temporal interference stimulation (tTIS).Scientific reports · 2021Trial
- Theta band high definition transcranial alternating current stimulation, but not transcranial direct current stimulation, improves associative memory performance.Scientific reports · 2019Trial
- Charge based boundary element method with residual driven adaptive mesh refinement for high resolution electrical stimulation modeling.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Impact of brain anisotropy on transcranial temporal interference stimulation: numerical analysis toward reliable montage optimization.Biomedical engineering letters · 2026Article
- Mapping the Global Trajectory and Key Trends of Temporal Interference Stimulation.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- On the feasibility of temporal interference stimulation of human brains using two arrays of electrodes.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Transcutaneous interference spinal cord stimulation: leadfield-based pareto optimization of electrode montages for improved focality.Biomedical engineering letters · 2026Article
- MHz compression of pulse packets facilitates remote focusing of electroporation.Bioelectrochemistry (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2025Article
- Computational Models of High-Definition Electroconvulsive Therapy for Focal or Multitargeting Treatment.The journal of ECT · 2025Article
- A leadfield-free optimization framework for transcranially applied electric currents.Computers in biology and medicine · 2025Article
- Transcranial temporal interference stimulation precisely targets deep brain regions to regulate eye movements.Neuroscience bulletin · 2025Article
- On the need of individually optimizing temporal interference stimulation of human brains due to inter-individual variability.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- [Quantitative analysis of transcranial temporal interference stimulation in rodents: A simulation study on electrode configurations].Sheng wu yi xue gong cheng xue za zhi = Journal of biomedical engineering = Shengwu yixue gongchengxue zazhi · 2025Article
- [A simulation study of nerve fiber activation in the lumbar segment under kilohertz-frequency transcutaneously spinal cord stimulation].Sheng wu yi xue gong cheng xue za zhi = Journal of biomedical engineering = Shengwu yixue gongchengxue zazhi · 2025Article
- Focal control of non-invasive deep brain stimulation using multipolar temporal interference.Bioelectronic medicine · 2025Article
- Recommendations for the Safe Application of Temporal Interference Stimulation in the Human Brain Part I: Principles of Electrical Neuromodulation and Adverse Effects.Bioelectromagnetics · 2025Review
- Multifocal tDCS targeting lower-limb cortical areas preserves late-stage endurance and tunes phase-specific coordination during incremental cycling.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Article
9 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
To reach a deep target in the brain with transcranial electric stimulation (TES), currents have to pass also through the cortical surface. Thus, it is generally thought that TES cannot achieve focal deep brain stimulation. Recent efforts with interfering waveforms and pulsed stimulation have argued that one can achieve deeper or more intense stimulation in the brain. Here we argue that conventional transcranial stimulation with multiple current sources is just as effective as these new approaches. The conventional multi-electrode approach can be numerically optimized to maximize intensity or focality at a desired target location. Using such optimal electrode configurations we find in a detailed and realistic head model that deep targets may in fact be strongly stimulated, with cerebro-spinal fluid guiding currents deep into the brain.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.