Optimized Transnasal Electrical Stimulation Using High-Density Electrode Arrangements

Recent work introduced transnasal electrical stimulation (TnES), a technique to modulate deep brain activity through the sphenoid sinus, a natural cavity in the skull base that is accessed routinely in transnasal procedures. TnES has the potential to provide minimally invasive treatment of neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions. We present a technique for optimizing the location, injected current amplitude, and number of electrodes to precisely and steerably target deep brain regions in TnES. Using rigorous simulations, we observe a 44.5% improvement in focality and 52.2% increase in intensity when targeting Brodmann Area 25, an emerging target for invasive DBS for depression. Further, we found that just 7 spatially-optimized electrodes retain 85% of the focality improvement. Featured in the Carnegie Mellon Biomedical Forum 2025 > Presented at the 2026 NYC Neuromodulation Conference > Acceptance to IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering (TBME) pending

Optimized Transnasal Electrical Stimulation Using High-Density Electrode Arrangements