Projecting Navigated TMS Sites on the Gyral Anatomy Decreases Inter-subject Variability of Cortical Motor Maps

- Use of nTMS data for visualizing and statistically analyzing the motor maps.
- Projecting nTMS data onto gyral anatomy instead of a plane grid on the brain surface.
- Increased spatial overlap between cortical maps and reduced mean Euclidean distance.
- Decreased variability of cortical motor maps on the group level.

BackgroundMagnetic resonance images are being increasingly deployed in conjunction with navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) to account for inter-individual differences in brain anatomy as well as to reduce the variability of mapping findings.ObjectiveHowever, despite the fact that the individual gyral anatomy has a significant impact on the TMS-induced electrical field distributions, these approaches still project the TMS coil positions as a plane grid of target points on the brain surface and fail to account for differences in cortex morphology.MethodsIn this study, we have introduced a technique for projecting nTMS sites onto the gyral anatomy to decrease the variability of cortical motor maps between subjects in normalized space. This involved interpolating the discrete map points in the normalized volume space and performing additional surface coregistration.ResultsBy applying this technique, we increased the spatial overlap between the cortical maps of the extensor digitorum communis muscle between subjects from 80% to 100%. We also managed to significantly reduce the mean Euclidean distance between the average center of gravity and the average hotspots to the respective individual spots from 8 mm to 6.5 mm.ConclusionOur approach facilitates the study of the functional topography of distinct behavioral properties with high spatial resolution, thereby constituting a valuable tool for precise group analysis of cortical TMS maps.