Integrating Structural MRI and DTI in Brain Deformation Simulation for Image-Guided Neurosurgery

Abstract

In image-guided neurosurgery, pre-operative magnetic resonance (MR) images can be fused with intra-operative ones to enhance visualization and navigation to determine the resection margin. However, intra-operative brain deformation, after opening the skull, greatly degrades accurate matching between these images. Although direct registering these images aims to address such a deformation problem, simulating brain shifts can potentially improve registration accuracy. In this paper, we introduce the biomechanical finite element model (FEM) to compute brain deformation such as parenchyma, tumor, ventricle and white matter shifts during craniotomy using both MRI and diffusion tensor images (DTI). In experiments, we show the pipeline for brain shift simulation and compare the results using different loading and boundary conditions of the FEM model. This method can be potentially used for simulating brain shifts before non-rigid image registration between intra-operative and pre-operative images in image-guided neurosurgery. Keywords: Brain deformation, diffusion tenser imaging (DTI), finite-element model, image guided neurosurgery, magnetic resonance (MR), neurosurgery.