Cortical Surface Co-Registration based on MRI Images and Photos

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to improve neuronavigation by co-registering intra-operative microscope images with pre-operative MRI, addressing brain shift through a variational registration approach validated on artificial and real data.

Contribution

It presents a novel cortical surface co-registration technique combining sulci classification, user-guided marking, and a variational registration with elastica prior energy.

Findings

Validated on artificial testbed with known deformation

Successfully applied to neuro clinical patient data

Improved accuracy in cortical surface alignment

Abstract

Brain shift, i.e. the change in configuration of the brain after opening the dura mater, is a key problem in neuronavigation. We present an approach to co-register intra-operative microscope images with pre-operative MRI to adapt and optimize intra-operative neuronavigation. The tools are a robust classification of sulci on MRI extracted cortical surfaces, guided user marking of most prominent sulci on a microscope image, and the actual variational registration method with a fidelity energy for 3D deformations of the cortical surface combined with a higher order, linear elastica type prior energy. Furthermore, the actual registration is validated on an artificial testbed with known ground truth deformation and on real data of a neuro clinical patient.