An atlas-based method to compensate for brain shift: Preliminary results

Compensating for intraoperative brain shift using computational models has shown promising results. Since computational time is an important factor during neurosurgery, a priori knowledge of the possible sources of deformation can increase the accuracy of model-updated image-guided systems. In this paper, a strategy to compensate for distributed loading conditions in the brain such as brain sag, volume changes due to drug reactions, and brain swelling due to edema is presented. An atlas of model deformations based on these complex loading conditions is computed preoperatively and used with a constrained linear inverse model to predict the intraoperative distributed brain shift. This relatively simple inverse finite-element approach is investigated within the context of a series of phantom experiments, two in vivo cases, and a simulation study. Preliminary results indicate that the approach recaptured on average 93% of surface shift for the simulation, phantom, and in vivo experiments. With respect to subsurface shift, comparisons were only made with simulation and phantom experiments and demonstrated an ability to recapture 85% of the shift. This translates to a remaining surface and subsurface shift error of 0.7 ± 0.3 mm, and 1.0 ± 0.4 mm, respectively, for deformations on the order of 1 cm.