Objective-The usefulness of neurosurgical navigation with current visualizations is seriously compromised by brain shift, which inevitably occurs during the course of the operation, significantly degrading the precise alignment between the preoperative MR data and the intraoperative shape of the brain. Our objectives were (i) to evaluate the feasibility of non-rigid registration that compensates for the brain deformations within the time constraints imposed by neurosurgery, and (ii) create augmented reality visualizations of critical structural and functional brain regions during neurosurgery using pre-operatively acquired fMRI and DT-MRI.Materials and Methods-Eleven consecutive patients with supratentorial gliomas were included in our study. All underwent surgery at our intra-operative MR imaging-guided therapy facility and have tumors in eloquent brain areas (e.g. precentral gyrus and cortico-spinal tract). Functional MRI and DT-MRI, together with MPRAGE and T2w structural MRI were acquired at 3T prior to surgery. SPGR and T2w images were acquired with a 0.5T magnet during each procedure. Quantitative assessment of the alignment accuracy was carried out and compared with current state-of the-art systems based only on rigid-registration.Results-Alignment between preoperative and intra-operative datasets was successfully carried out during surgery for all patients. Overall, the mean residual displacement remaining after nonrigid registration was 1.82 mm. There is a statistically significant improvement in alignment accuracy utilizing our non-rigid registration in comparison to the currently used technology (p<0.001).Conclusions-We were able to achieve intra-operative rigid and non-rigid registration of (1) pre-operative structural MRI with intra-operative T1w MRI; (2) pre-operative FMRI with intraoperative T1w MRI, and (3) pre-operative DT-MRI with intra-operative T1w MRI. The registration algorithms as implemented were sufficiently robust and rapid to meet the hard realtime constraints of intra-operative surgical decision making. The validation experiments demonstrate that we can accurately compensate for the deformation of the brain and thus can construct an augmented reality visualization to aid the surgeon.
Accurate planning of radiation therapy entails the definition of treatment volumes and a clear delimitation of normal tissue of which unnecessary exposure should be prevented. The spinal cord is a radiosensitive organ, which should be precisely identified because an overexposure to radiation may lead to undesired complications for the patient such as neuronal disfunction or paralysis. In this paper, a knowledge-based approach to identifying the spinal cord in computed tomography images of the thorax is presented. The approach relies on a knowledge-base which consists of a so-called anatomical structures map (ASM) and a task-oriented architecture called the plan solver. The ASM contains a frame-like knowledge representation of the macro-anatomy in the human thorax. The plan solver is responsible for determining the position, orientation and size of the structures of interest to radiation therapy. The plan solver relies on a number of image processing operators. Some are so-called atomic (e.g., thresholding and snakes) whereas others are composite. The whole system has been implemented on a standard PC. Experiments performed on the image material from 23 patients show that the approach results in a reliable recognition of the spinal cord (92% accuracy) and the spinal canal (85% accuracy). The lamina is more problematic to locate correctly (accuracy 72%). The position of the outer thorax is always determined correctly.
Abstract. In the United States, unenhanced CT is currently the most common imaging modality used to guide percutaneous biopsy and tumor ablation. The majority of liver tumors such as hepatocellular carcinomas are visible on contrast-enhanced CT or MRI obtained prior to the procedure. Yet, these tumors may not be visible or may have poor margin conspicuity on unenhanced CT images acquired during the procedure. Non-rigid registration has been used to align images accurately, even in the presence of organ motion. However, to date, it has not been used clinically for radiofrequency ablation (RFA), since it requires significant computational infrastructure and often these methods are not sufficient robust. We have already introduced a novel finite element based method (FEM) that is demonstrated to achieve good accuracy and robustness for the problem of brain shift in neurosurgery. In this current study, we adapt it to fuse pre-procedural MRI with intra-procedural CT of liver. We also compare its performance with conventional rigid registration and two non-rigid registration methods: b-spline and demons on 13 retrospective datasets from patients that underwent RFA at our institution. FEM non-rigid registration technique was significantly better than rigid (p<10-5), non-rigid b-spline (p<10-4) and demons (p<10-4) registration techniques. The results of our study indicate that this novel technology may be used to optimize placement of RF applicator during CT-guided ablations.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.