eeg responses to tms are sensitive to changes in the perturbation parameters and repeatable over time脑电图对经颅磁刺激的反应敏感的变化扰动参数和可重复的.pdfVIP

EEG Responses to TMS Are Sensitive to Changes in the Perturbation Parameters and Repeatable over Time Silvia Casarotto, Leonor J. Romero Lauro, Valentina Bellina, Adenauer G. Casali, Mario Rosanova, Andrea Pigorini, Stefano Defendi, Maurizio Mariotti, Marcello Massimini* ` Department of Clinical Sciences ‘‘L. Sacco’’, Universita degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy Abstract Background: High-density electroencephalography (hd-EEG) combined with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) provides a direct and non-invasive measure of cortical excitability and connectivity in humans and may be employed to track over time pathological alterations, plastic changes and therapy-induced modifications in cortical circuits. However, the diagnostic/monitoring applications of this technique would be limited to the extent that TMS-evoked potentials are either stereotypical (non-sensitive) or random (non-repeatable) responses. Here, we used controlled changes in the stimulation parameters (site, intensity, and angle of stimulation) and repeated longitudinal measurements (same day and one week apart) to evaluate the sensitivity and repeatability of TMS/hd-EEG potentials. Methodology/Principal Findings: In 10 volunteers, we performed 92 single-subject comparisons to evaluate the similarities/differences between pairs of TMS-evoked potentials recorded in the same/different stimulation conditions. For each pairwise comparison, we used non-parametric statistics to calculate a Divergence Index (DI), i.e., the percentage of samples that differed significantly, considering all scalp locations and the entire post-stimulus period. A receiver operating characteristic analysis showed that it was possible to find an optimal DI threshold of 1.67%, yielding 96.7% overall accur