From toys to brain: Virtual reality applications in neuroscience

While many virtual reality (VR) applications have emerged in the areas of entertainment, education, military training, physical rehabilitation, and medicine, only recently have some research projects begun to test the possibility of using virtual environments (VEs) for research in neuroscience, neurosurgery and for the study and rehabilitation of human cognitive and functional activities. Virtual reality technology could have a strong impact on neuroscience. The key characteristic of VEs is the high level of control of the interaction with the tool without the constraints usually found in computer systems. VEs are highly flexible and programmable. They enable the therapist to present a wide variety of controlled stimuli and to measure and monitor a wide variety of responses made by the user. However, at this stage, a number of obstacles exist which have impeded the development of active research. These obstacles include problems with acquiring funding for an almost untested new treatment modality, the lack of reference standards, the non-interoperability of the VR systems and, last but not least, the relative lack of familiarity with the technology on the part of researchers in these fields.     

Mechanisms for maintaining situation awareness in the micro-neurosurgical operating room

Interactions in micro-neurosurgical operating rooms form a complex orchestration of labor and information flows. In the center, there is the focus on patient safety and outcome quality in shortest possible time, while a neurosurgeon is fully focused on the task using a surgical microscope. To guarantee a successful outcome, maintaining a high level of situation awareness (SA) is essential. Suspension of action due to instrument exchange, interaction with a device, or communication affects information flows and collaboration. Situation awareness underlies these interactions. To further understand the mechanisms of SA, we used observations and interviews to gain insight into interactions in micro-neurosurgical theaters. We describe behaviors and strategies exhibited to maintain the interaction flow, in particular, between the scrub nurse and the surgeon. Results show how interactions based on action prediction and active observation within the well-organized environment are influenced, both positively and negatively, by the reliance of the work on the microscope. From this understanding, we discuss the opportunities in future technologies and interfaces for supporting situation awareness maintenance in operating rooms.     

Securing an optimum operating field without undesired tissue damage in neurosurgery

In neurosurgery, surgeons sometimes retract brain tissue to prepare an operating field around a lesion. In addition, they are required to plan a safe surgical pathway for deep-brain regions while considering tissue damage caused by excessive stress. The goal of this study is to develop a technique for automatically generating a surgery pathway for lesions in the deep-brain region, focusing on securing an operating field around the lesion as a first step and also considering brain tissue deformation. In previous studies, securing the operating field has been treated as a single-objective optimization problem in order to maximize the viewable area of the lesion. However, in this study, the task of securing the operating field is formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem. Using a technique that combines finite element analysis and an optimization method, the principal stress on the brain is constrained to less than a certain threshold value, and the position and orientation of the surgical instrument are optimized for safe retraction of the brain according to various weighting factors.     

281例神经外科患者的管道护理研究

目的对神经外科患者的管道护理经验进行探讨。方法对我院281例病人的临床护理进行研究,主要从气管套管、鼻饲管、与引流有关的管道3个方面来阐述。结果对气管套管的护理、鼻饲管的护理和与引流有关的管道护理的关键点和注意事项进行了详细的总结。结论神经外科收治的患者,只有认真执行,保证护理质量,才能确保管道的治疗目的,促进疾病康复。     

A software system for evaluation and training of spatial reasoning and neuroanatomical knowledge in a virtual environment

This paper describes the design and development of a software tool for the evaluation and training of surgical residents using an interactive, immersive, virtual environment. Our objective was to develop a tool to evaluate user spatial reasoning skills and knowledge in a neuroanatomical context, as well as to augment their performance through interactivity. In the visualization, manually segmented anatomical surface images of MRI scans of the brain were rendered using a stereo display to improve depth cues. A magnetically tracked wand was used as a 3D input device for localization tasks within the brain. The movement of the wand was made to correspond to movement of a spherical cursor within the rendered scene, providing a reference for localization. Users can be tested on their ability to localize structures within the 3D scene, and their ability to place anatomical features at the appropriate locations within the rendering.     

面向机器人辅助神经外科手术的视觉标定方法

针对无框架图像引导的机器人辅助神经外科手术中的空间标定问题,提出了一种非接触式的标定方法,该方法利用双目立体视觉技术,实现临床手术中的病人头部标记点(Mark点)的标定任务。大量实验和数据分析验证了该视觉标定方法的精度,保证了该方法应用于神经外科临床手术的可靠性。该方法与传统的接触式标定相比,具有安全性高、易于操作、可实时更新数据等优点。