Visualization of Superficial Cerebral Lesions Using a Smartphone Application
Ihsan Dogan1, Umit Eroglu, Onur Ozgural
1Ankara University, School of Medicine, Department of Neurosurgery, Ankara, Turkey.
Turkish Neurosurgery
|November 7, 2017
Summary
A smartphone app demonstrated potential for neurosurgical navigation, projecting tumor locations onto patient images with 80% favorable accuracy. This offers a basis for future portable navigation systems.
Area of Science:
- Neurosurgery
- Medical Imaging
- Mobile Health Technology
Background:
- Accurate localization of cerebral lesions is crucial for surgical success and minimizing complications.
- Current microscope-integrated neuronavigation systems are effective but expensive and bulky.
- There is a growing need for practical, portable navigation solutions in neurosurgery.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the accuracy of a smartphone application for visualizing cerebral lesion projections in neurosurgery.
- To explore the feasibility of using mobile technology as a portable neuronavigation tool.
Main Methods:
- The See-Through Camera smartphone application was utilized to overlay tumor projections onto patient images.
- The app was tested in 20 neurosurgery patients.
- Accuracy was assessed by comparing the superimposed tumor image with the actual tumor visualization from a standard neuronavigation system.
Main Results:
- The smartphone application achieved a superposition ratio of 40%-100% in 16 out of 20 patients (80%).
- Unfavorable results (below 40% accuracy) were observed in the remaining patients.
- The study demonstrated the basic rationality of using smartphone technology for surgical navigation.
Conclusions:
- The See-Through Camera app shows promise as a foundational technology for future pocket-sized neuronavigation systems.
- The design and principles of this application could pave the way for more accessible surgical guidance tools.
