BabelBrain

BabelBrain models transcranial-focused ultrasound (FUS) neuromodulation by computing transmitted acoustic fields in brain tissue while accounting for skull-induced distortion and assessing thermal effects.

Key Features:

• Transcranial FUS field computation: Calculates the transmitted acoustic field within brain tissue while accounting for distortion effects introduced by the skull.
• Anatomical inputs: Uses anatomical data from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), and zero-echo time MRI scans to inform simulations.
• Thermal simulation: Simulates thermal effects resulting from ultrasound regimes using parameters such as total exposure duration, duty cycle, and acoustic intensity.
• Acoustic solver: Employs the BabelViscoFDTD library to perform transcranial modeling calculations of acoustic fields.
• GPU backends: Supports Metal, OpenCL, and CUDA GPU backends for computational execution.
• Image processing and neuronavigation integration: Prepares simulation domains using image processing techniques and integration with neuronavigation and 3-DSlicer.
• Acoustic properties mapping evaluation: Implements a numerical pipeline to evaluate different methods of acoustic properties mapping for reproducing transcranial pressure transmission efficiency.

Scientific Applications:

• Neuromodulation modeling: Predicts acoustic field distributions for prospective studies of FUS neuromodulation.
• Safety and thermal impact assessment: Assesses potential biological thermal effects from specific ultrasound regimes via exposure duration, duty cycle, and acoustic intensity.
• Method validation: Compares and evaluates acoustic properties mapping methods to reproduce reported transcranial pressure transmission efficiency.

Methodology:

Simulations use MRI, CT, and zero-echo time MRI anatomical inputs; compute transmitted acoustic fields within brain tissue while accounting for skull-induced distortion using the BabelViscoFDTD library; simulate thermal effects with exposure duration, duty cycle, and acoustic intensity parameters; prepare domains via image processing and neuronavigation integration with 3-DSlicer; and run evaluations of acoustic properties mapping methods, with computation executed on Metal, OpenCL, or CUDA GPU backends.