Fusion of Intraoperative 3D B-mode and Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound Data for Automatic Identification of Residual Brain Tumors

Elisee Ilunga-Mbuyamba,Dirk Lindner,Juan Avina-Cervantes,Horacio Rostro-Gonzalez,Claire Chalopin,Ivan Cruz-Aceves,Felix Arlt

doi:10.3390/app7040415

Elisee Ilunga-Mbuyamba, Dirk Lindner + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/app7040415

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Abstract

Intraoperative ultrasound (iUS) imaging is routinely performed to assist neurosurgeons during tumor surgery. In particular, the identification of the possible presence of residual tumors at the end of the intervention is crucial for the operation outcome. B-mode ultrasound remains the standard modality because it depicts brain structures well. However, tumorous tissue is hard to differentiate from resection cavity borders, blood and artifacts. On the other hand, contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) highlights residuals of the tumor, but the interpretation of the image is complex. Therefore, an assistance system to support the identification of tumor remnants in the iUS data is needed. Our approach is based on image segmentation and data fusion techniques. It consists of combining relevant information, automatically extracted from both intraoperative B-mode and CEUS image data, according to decision rules that model the analysis process of neurosurgeons to interpret the iUS data. The method was tested on an image dataset of 23 patients suffering from glioblastoma. The detection rate of brain areas with tumor residuals reached by the algorithm was qualitatively and quantitatively compared with manual annotations provided by experts. The results showed that the assistance tool was able to successfully identify areas with suspicious tissue.

Highlights

Nowadays, brain tumor surgeries are guided using neuronavigation systems, which are commonly based on anatomical preoperative 3D MR data together with functional data
The automatic detection of brain areas including tumor residuals is based on the representation of tumor tissue in Intraoperative B-mode ultrasound (iB-mode) and iCEUS image data
The problem of identifying the presence or the absence of residual brain tumor in Intraoperative ultrasound (iUS) image data was addressed in this work

Summary

Introduction

Brain tumor surgeries are guided using neuronavigation systems, which are commonly based on anatomical preoperative 3D MR data together with functional data. Such systems assist accurately the first steps of the operation, which consist of locating the tumor under the skull and defining the opening access. The tumor location and shape indicated in the preoperative. Experienced neurosurgeons use their knowledge about the haptic and the visual information of the tumors in comparison to the surrounding edema and brain, for the orientation, preparation and definition of the tumor borders.

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