Cortical Surface Co-Registration based on MRI Images and Photos
This addresses a key problem for neurosurgeons by enabling more accurate intra-operative navigation, though it appears incremental as it builds on existing registration methods.
The paper tackles brain shift in neuronavigation by co-registering intra-operative microscope images with pre-operative MRI, achieving validation on both artificial testbeds with known ground truth and real patient data.
Brain shift, i.e. the change in configuration of the brain after opening the dura mater, is a key problem in neuronavigation. We present an approach to co-register intra-operative microscope images with pre-operative MRI to adapt and optimize intra-operative neuronavigation. The tools are a robust classification of sulci on MRI extracted cortical surfaces, guided user marking of most prominent sulci on a microscope image, and the actual variational registration method with a fidelity energy for 3D deformations of the cortical surface combined with a higher order, linear elastica type prior energy. Furthermore, the actual registration is validated on an artificial testbed with known ground truth deformation and on real data of a neuro clinical patient.