The Potential of Stereotactic-EEG for Brain-Computer Interfaces: Current Progress and Future Directions

Christian Herff; Dean J Krusienski; Pieter Kubben

doi:10.3389/fnins.2020.00123

The Potential of Stereotactic-EEG for Brain-Computer Interfaces: Current Progress and Future Directions

Front Neurosci. 2020 Feb 27:14:123. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2020.00123. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Christian Herff¹, Dean J Krusienski², Pieter Kubben³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurosurgery, School of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands.
² ASPEN Lab, Biomedical Engineering Department, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, United States.
³ Department of Neurosurgery, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, Netherlands.

Abstract

Stereotactic electroencephalogaphy (sEEG) utilizes localized, penetrating depth electrodes to measure electrophysiological brain activity. It is most commonly used in the identification of epileptogenic zones in cases of refractory epilepsy. The implanted electrodes generally provide a sparse sampling of a unique set of brain regions including deeper brain structures such as hippocampus, amygdala and insula that cannot be captured by superficial measurement modalities such as electrocorticography (ECoG). Despite the overlapping clinical application and recent progress in decoding of ECoG for Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs), sEEG has thus far received comparatively little attention for BCI decoding. Additionally, the success of the related deep-brain stimulation (DBS) implants bodes well for the potential for chronic sEEG applications. This article provides an overview of sEEG technology, BCI-related research, and prospective future directions of sEEG for long-term BCI applications.

Keywords: BCI; ECoG; brain-computer interface; depth electrodes; electrocorticography; iEEG; intracranial; stereotactic EEG.

Publication types

Review