Engineering Principles of DBS and SCS in Clinical Practice: General Introduction and Emerging Concepts Featured

8:00 AM - 5:00 PM Thursday, Jan. 12

This exciting workshop will present engineering principles relevant to Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) and Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). The target audience of this course is clinicians that currently utilize or are interested in incorporating SCS and or DBS technologies into their clinical practice. The field of neuromodulation is rapidly evolving, and several technologies are now clinically available. These systems have diverse lead and stimulator designs. It is not always clear how different designs or waveform parameters affect the neural response and corresponding efficacy of the stimulation. Therefore, the goal of this course is to provide clinicians with an overview of the engineering principles and biophysics relevant to SCS and DBS. This course will also present the current understanding of the physiological effects and mechanisms of action of standard and emerging forms of SCS and DBS. Furthermore, this course will describe the safety and regulatory issues that are critical to electrode design and stimulation parameters. During the morning session, academic engineers and clinicians will present principles relevant to SCS and DBS technologies. During the afternoon session, engineers and scientists from industry will describe engineering principles, best practices, and new approaches related to their specific technologies. In a third session held during the first day of the conference, we will present engineering principles relevant to emerging technologies and mechanisms of action of SCS and DBS. At the end of the course, attendees will have a better understanding of the physiological and technical factors that determine the neural response to SCS and DBS. The ultimate goal of this course is to provide attendees with knowledge that will aid in their clinical implementation of SCS and DBS technologies.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this educational activity, participants should be able to:

Discuss the biophysics of neural stimulation.
Indicate how lead design and placement and waveform parameters affect the neural response to extracellular stimulation.
Describe safety and regulatory issues related to electrode design and waveform parameters.
Outline the engineering principles relevant to SCS and DBS.
Explain the physiologic effects and corresponding mechanisms of action of standard and emerging forms of SCS and DBS.

Introduction - Morning Session

Marom Bikson, PhD
Scott F. Lempka, PhD

Neurostimulation Fundamentals: Dose, Current Flow, and Neural Activation

Marom Bikson, PhD

Stimulus Optimization: Role of Electrode Position and Waveform Parameters

Cameron McIntyre, PhD

Neural Recording Fundamentals

Scott Lempka, PhD

Neural Recording Optimization

Svjetlana Miocinovic, MD,PhD

Electrodes and Tissue Safety

Dan Merrill, PhD

Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS): Background and Relevant Engineering Principles

Scott Lempka, PhD

Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS): Background and Relevant Engineering Principles

Svjetlana Miocinovic, MD,PhD

Faculty Panel Q&A

Marom Bikson, PhD
Kerry Bradley, MS
Scott Lempka, PhD
Cameron McIntyre, PhD
Dan Merrill, PhD
Svjetlana Miocinovic, MD,PhD
Aileen Ouyang, PhD
David Page, PhD