ITRUSST consensus on standardised reporting for transcranial ultrasound stimulation

Eleanor Martin; Jean-François Aubry; Mark Schafer; Lennart Verhagen; Bradley Treeby; Kim Butts Pauly

doi:10.1016/j.brs.2024.04.013

ITRUSST consensus on standardised reporting for transcranial ultrasound stimulation

Brain Stimul. 2024 Apr 25;17(3):607-615. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2024.04.013. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Eleanor Martin¹, Jean-François Aubry², Mark Schafer³, Lennart Verhagen⁴, Bradley Treeby⁵, Kim Butts Pauly⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, London, UK; Wellcome/EPSRC Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences, University College London, London, UK.
² Physics for Medicine Paris, Inserm U1273, ESPCI Paris, CNRS UMR8063, PSL University, Paris, France.
³ School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
⁴ Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, 6525 GD Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
⁵ Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, London, UK.
⁶ Department of Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA. Electronic address: kimbutts@stanford.edu.

PMID: 38670224
DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2024.04.013

Abstract

As transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) advances as a precise, non-invasive neuromodulatory method, there is a need for consistent reporting standards to enable comparison and reproducibility across studies. To this end, the International Transcranial Ultrasonic Stimulation Safety and Standards Consortium (ITRUSST) formed a subcommittee of experts across several domains to review and suggest standardised reporting parameters for low intensity TUS, resulting in the guide presented here. The scope of the guide is limited to reporting the ultrasound aspects of a study. The guide and supplementary material provide a simple checklist covering the reporting of: (1) the transducer and drive system, (2) the drive system settings, (3) the free field acoustic parameters, (4) the pulse timing parameters, (5) in situ estimates of exposure parameters in the brain, and (6) intensity parameters. Detailed explanations for each of the parameters, including discussions on assumptions, measurements, and calculations, are also provided.

Keywords: Standardised reporting; TUS; Transcranial ultrasound neuromodulation; Transcranial ultrasound stimulation.

Publication types

Review