Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36502488›Full record

ArticleMedical physics2023

A study of flex miniaturized coils for focal nerve magnetic stimulation.

Micol Colella, Daniel Z Press, Rebecca M Laher, Courtney E McIlduff, Seward B Rutkove, Antonino M Cassarà, Francesca Apollonio, Alvaro Pascual-Leone, Micaela Liberti, Giorgio Bonmassar

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Medical physics, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
1.1field-weighted citation impact, top 23% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. The interplay between pulse width and activation depth in TENS: a computational study.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2025
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Microfabrication Technologies for Nanoinvasive and High-Resolution Magnetic Neuromodulation.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2024
    Review
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors at 7 institutions in 3 countries.

Micol ColellaAthinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Daniel Z PressBerenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation and Division of Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Rebecca M LaherBerenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation and Division of Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Courtney E McIlduffBerenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation and Division of Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Seward B RutkoveBerenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation and Division of Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Antonino M CassaràFoundation for Research on Information Technologies in Society (IT'IS), Zurich, Switzerland.
Francesca ApollonioDepartment of Information Engineering, Electronics and Telecommunications (DIET), Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Alvaro Pascual-LeoneDepartment of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Micaela LibertiDepartment of Information Engineering, Electronics and Telecommunications (DIET), Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Giorgio BonmassarAthinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Berenson Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation · USSapienza University of Rome · ITAthinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging · USBeth Israel Deaconess Medical Center · USFoundation for Research on Information Technologies in Society · CHHebrew SeniorLife · USMassachusetts General Hospital · US

Funding

Transspinal Magnetic Stimulation for the Treatment of Neuropathic PainR18EB036591 · NIBIB · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI BONMASSAR, GIORGIO · 2024 to 2024
$3.6M
Micro-TMS Technology for Ultra-Focal Brain StimulationR01MH111875 · NIMH · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI BONMASSAR, GIORGIO · 2016 to 2019
$3.1M
National Institute of Mental Health (NIH/NIMH) RFA-MH-16-810NIBIB NIH HHS R18 EB036591NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH111875
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPeripheral magnetic stimulation (PMS) is emerging as a complement to standard electrical stimulation (ES) of the peripheral nervous system (PNS). PMS may stimulate sensory and motor nerve fibers without the discomfort associated with the ES used for standard nerve conduction studies. The PMS coils are the same ones used in transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and lack focality and selectiveness in the stimulation. PURPOSE: This study presents a novel coil for PMS, developed using Flexible technologies, and characterized by reduced dimensions for a precise and controlled targeting of peripheral nerves.

methodsWe performed hybrid electromagnetic (EM) and electrophysiological simulations to study the EM exposure induced by a novel miniaturized coil (or mcoil) in and around the radial nerve of the neuro-functionalized virtual human body model Yoon-Sun, and to estimate the current threshold to induce magnetic stimulation (MS) of the radial nerve. Eleven healthy subjects were studied with the mcoil, which consisted of two 15 mm diameter coils in a figure-of-eight configuration, each with a hundred turns of a 25 μm copper-clad four-layer foil. Sensory nerve action potentials (SNAPs) were measured in each subject using two electrodes and compared with those obtained from standard ES. The SNAPs conduction velocities were estimated as a performance metric.

resultsThe induced electric field was estimated numerically to peak at a maximum intensity of 39 V/m underneath the mcoil fed by 70 A currents. In such conditions, the electrophysiological simulations suggested that the mcoil elicits SNAPs originating at 7 mm from the center of the mcoil. Furthermore, the numerically estimated latencies and waveforms agreed with those obtained during the PMS experiments on healthy subjects, confirming the ability of the mcoil to stimulate the radial nerve sensory fibers.

conclusionHybrid EM-electrophysiological simulations assisted the development of a miniaturized coil with a small diameter and a high number of turns using flexible electronics. The numerical dosimetric analysis predicted the threshold current amplitudes required for a suprathreshold peripheral nerve sensory stimulation, which was experimentally confirmed. The developed and now validated computational pipeline will be used to improve the performances (e.g., focality and minimal currents) of new generations of mcoil designs.

Indexed as

MagneticsTranscranial Magnetic StimulationElectricityElectric StimulationHumansNerve Conduction Studiesmagnetic stimulationmicroelectromechanical systems (MEMS)

Identifiers

PMID36502488
PMCPMC10033376
OpenAlexW4311079645

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.