Acquisition of three-dimensional information of brain structures using endoneurosonography

Recent trends in minimally invasive brain surgery aim at using the joint acquisition of endoscopic and ultrasound images, a technique called endoneurosonography (ENS). Endoscopic images are useful, but they cannot provide information beyond opaque structures; therefore, it is necessary to complement them with other medical images. In this sense, ultrasound images provide a good option because they are cheap and easy to acquire in intraoperative scenarios.This paper presents a methodology for acquiring 3D information on brain structures using endoneurosonography. The endoscopic cameras and the ultrasound sensor are inserted into the brain during surgery. The information from the endoscopic cameras is used for stereo reconstruction, while the ultrasound information is used to segment regions of interest. The aim of this work is solving four specific problems: calibration of the endoscopic system; tracking of the ultrasound probe through endoscopic images; segmentation of brain structures from ultrasound images; and 3D reconstruction of brain tumors. At the end of the paper, the complete methodology is explained and experiments are done on an ENS database of brain phantoms.

► Methodology for acquisition of 3D information of brain tumors using ENS is explained.
► Endoscopic images are used for stereo reconstruction of the intraoperative scene.
► Spatio-temporal tracking of the US probe is based on luminance and optical flow.
► Ultrasound images are used to segment brain tumors.
► Information on the tumor is presented as 3D point clouds.