Abstracts

Rationale:
The current gold standard workflow for stereotactic targeting of structures in the brain involves preoperative manual path planning by a neurosurgeon. This is often time-consuming and laborious especially for multiple targets.
Method:
We developed a brute force-based path planner in MATLAB software. The segmentation module of the open source 3D slicer software was used to semi-automatically segment the critical structures and hippocampus. The path planner generated a single resolution complete and optimal path which maximized the penetration along the longitudinal axis of the hippocampal head and body with a minimum of 2 mm margin from critical structures on 2 anonymous imaging datasets. Data obtained include degree of hippocampal penetration (in comparison to its geometric mean axis), distance from surround critical structures, and trajectory computation time.
Results:
The mean degree of hippocampal penetration was 105% compared to the hippocampal geometric mean (Δ = 5% range: 101.4 – 108.7 %). The average minimum distance between the trajectory boundaries and surrounding critical structures along the entire trajectory length was 2.12 mm. The mean computational time was 102.5 mins (range: 75 – 130 mins).
Conclusion:
Our results showed that our path planning algorithm obtained a degree of hippocampal penetration that was superior to the hippocampal geometric mean while maintain a safe margin from surrounding critical structures with a reasonable computation time. This path planner has good potential for further application for multiple trajectory planning in robotic stereotactic EEG (SEEG) depth electrode implantation procedures.
Funding:
:None