Brain Controllability Analysis

Brain neuromodulation effectively treats neurological diseases such as Depression. However, due to the patient heterogeneity, neuromodulation treatment outcomes are often highly variable, requiring patient-specific stimulation targets and parameters by accommodating inherent variability and intersession alteration during treatments. To address this gap, we developed a personalized transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) protocol and evaluated its feasibility in optimizing the treatment efficacy using an existing dataset from an antidepressant experimental imaging study in depression. The personalization of the rTMS treatment protocol was achieved by personalizing both stimulation targets and parameters via integrating the brain controllability analysis and optimal control analysis. Our results support the feasibility of developing personalized neuromodulation protocols to more efficiently treat depression and the utility of brain controllability analysis in understanding neural control mechanisms of various neurological and psychiatric diseases.