PreSurgMapp: a MATLAB Toolbox for Presurgical Mapping of Eloquent Functional Areas Based on Task-Related and...

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Neurosurgery
• Medical Software Development

Background:

• Maximizing tumor resection while preserving neurological function is crucial in brain tumor surgery.
• Accurate preoperative delineation of eloquent brain areas is essential for surgical planning, especially for tumors near critical regions.
• Existing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data processing tools for presurgical planning are insufficient.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce PreSurgMapp, an open-source MATLAB toolbox designed to address the lack of specialized data processing toolkits for presurgical functional mapping.
• To provide a comprehensive and user-friendly solution for identifying eloquent brain areas using fMRI for enhanced surgical planning.

Main Methods:

• Development of an open-source MATLAB toolbox, PreSurgMapp, integrating functions from established software (SPM, REST, DPARSF, MICA).
• Implementation of both model-based (GLM, seed correlation) and data-driven (ICA) methods for analyzing task-based and resting-state fMRI data.
• Inclusion of an automatic component identification algorithm using a discriminability index for sensorimotor and language areas, coupled with a user-friendly GUI for automated, individualized mapping.

Main Results:

• PreSurgMapp enables comprehensive analysis of fMRI data for presurgical planning.
• The toolbox supports diverse fMRI modalities and analysis methods, including automatic identification of key functional areas.
• Results generated by PreSurgMapp can be evaluated and compared by clinical experts.

Conclusions:

• PreSurgMapp offers a valuable, automated, and individualized approach to functional brain mapping for neurosurgical planning.
• The software has significant potential applications in neuro-radiology and neuro-oncology for various brain tumor types and epilepsy surgery.
• This toolbox enhances the ability to maximize tumor resection while minimizing risks to postoperative function.