Computational modelling and prediction of brain shift to improve surgical navigation

Neurosurgical procedures for treatment of brain tumours and diseases such as Parkinson's disease often require the insertion of catheters to deliver drugs to particular parts of the brain, or electrodes to enable precisely targeted stimulation. It is important to be able to place these accurately and to avoid critical parts of the brain. Surgical trajectories are planned using preoperative MRI images and a robot system is used to set the correct direction relative to the skull. However, the brain is soft and moves around when the skull is opened for surgical access, affecting the accuracy with which particular features can be targeted.