1. BioMag Laboratory
At the BioMag Laboratory, Helsinki University Central Hospital, we develop neuromagnetism and cardiomagnetism in combination with methods such as transcranial magnetic stimulation and functional magnetic resonance imaging or fMRI. The multichannel measurements reveal noninvasively what goes on in the human brain or heart.

2. Clinical Trial: Preliminary Study of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Stroke Rehabilitation
Clinical Trial: Preliminary Study of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Stroke Rehabilitation Purpose This is a preliminary study to evaluate the possible use of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), together with exercise, for rehabilitation of chronic stroke patients. It will identify the optimum stimulation settings (within the limits of current safety guidelines) to be used in a later rehabilitation study and confirm the safety of the procedure at these settings. Some previous studies using TMS to treat movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease have shown improvement in motor function; others have not. The results of this study may provide information to help researchers design better rehabilitation treatments after stroke. Stroke patients with residual arm function and no history of seizures may be eligible for this study. The stroke must have occurred at least 6 months before entry into the study and must have affected only one side of the brain. For the TMS procedure, subjects are seated in a comfortable chair with their hands placed on a pillow on their lap. An insulated wire coil is placed on the scalp. A brief electrical current is passed through the coil, creating a magnetic pulse that stimulates the outer part of the brain, called the cortex. This may cause muscle, hand or arm twitching if the coil is near the part of the brain that controls movement, or it may affect movements or reflexes. Subjects are asked to make movements, do simple tasks, or tense muscles. Metal electrodes are taped to the skin over the muscle for computer recording of the electrical activity of the hand and arm muscles activated by the stimulation. The testing lasts 2-3 hours.

3. Transcranial magnetic stimulation in psychiatry
Transcranial magnetic stimulation in psychiatryA bright spot on the horizon: - Matthew Kirkcaldie and Saxby Pridmore "[Medicine is] entering an era when new methods will be available for the modification of brain circuitry and function of normal or disordered types by means of painless extracranial techniques that seem to be without obvious detriment to neuronal populations ..." - R. G. Bickford, 1987." - The brain is elusive: its most interesting qualities appear when it is tucked inside its shell of bone, reading the world through senses and driving the body through the wide range of human behaviour. Anatomists can describe its structure in incredible detail; physiologists can tease out the complex chemistry of its cells, and neuropsychologists have pieced together a broad but incomplete picture of how its functions work together. Despite this enormous body of knowledge, the day-to-day running of the brain's activities - and how to help when they go wrong - is still difficult to comprehend. Our knowledge is based on accidental damage, comparisons made at autopsy, and some difficult imaging techniques, rather than through direct interaction with the brain working inside its enclosure. Historically, interventions made on the brain have been fairly drastic - from holes bored in the skull by primitive healers, through to the drugs, electrical treatments and psychosurgery of more recent times. Psychiatry, surgery and pharmacology have combined to alleviate or prevent many conditions which were once a death sentence, or meant a life of misery for the sufferer. However, their techniques have often carried enormous risk, or drastic side effects, due to the severity of the interventions used.

4. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. - A related registration and tracking application is the generation of functional brain mapping using a trans-cranial magnetic stimulation device. This coil generates magnetic field impulses which stimulate underlying nerve cells in a focused volume. By measuring responses to the stimulations and tracking the position of the coil relative to the MR scan we generate functional maps of the brain in a low-cost, non-invasive, and accurate manner. The LEDs placed on the face in the image below are used to track the position of the patient during the procedure, so that the patient's head does not have to be fixed

Back to the Resources index page