Efficacy of Operative Ultrasonography Plus Neuronavigation for Brain Glioma Surgery: 2 – Year Single Center Experience in a Developing Country

Abstract

Background: preoperative MRI data has been the gold standard for the diagnosis and therapy of malignant gliomas for decades, and operative ultrasonography for the management of patients with neurological pathologies that require surgical treatment has been also used for many years as it provides additional image guidance for surgical procedure to neuronavigation techniques. The main objective of this study is to find out if the use of operative ultrasonography in glioma surgery could give greater benefit in the total resection of brain gliomas and how improvement influences the degree of neoplastic resection on the survival of patients. Methods: prospective case-control study that was performed at the ISSEMyM Licenciado Arturo Montiel Rojas Medical Center, of patients with a histopathological diagnosis of cerebral glioma treated by the neurosurgery service in the period between January 2018 and December 2020. Results: Thirty - two patients were included, with 13 patients (40.6%) with grade IV astrocytoma. Operative USG + NNV was used in 17 patients and a subtotal or total resection was achieved in 75% of the patients, with a significantly lower postoperative volumetry in patients operated on by NNV + USG (5.6mm3 + 2.5), compared to NNV alone (8mm3 + 2.8) However, these results did not affect tumor-free time, which was comparable between both groups. Conclusions: Surgical treatment of brain gliomas with USG + NNV has a good degree of tumor resection compared to those treated with NNV only, but the main factor affecting survival is the hystophatological grade of the tumor.