Comparison of different electrode meshing methods regarding the electric field simulation of deep brain stimulation

This thesis evaluates meshing problems that occur when generating a volumetric mesh of an electrode inside a brain for deep brain stimulation. A new robust meshing procedure is introduced to circumvent these problems. This procedure is able to robustly and accurately combine electrode-brain meshes. The influence on the electric field when simulating deep brain stimulation is compared to different preexisting mesh generation procedures. The methods considered are: meshing only the electrode contacts within the brain (method 1), using domain relabelling to define electrode insulation (method 2), and the newly introduced procedure (method 3). The new meshing procedure showed more mesh generation flexibility, making it possible to orient the electrode arbitrarily inside a domain. The difference in the electric fields between methods 2 and 3 was less pronounced. Still, it is recommended to use the new meshing procedure in future simulations to account for inter-patient variability in electrode placement.