Background: Accurate brain lesion and craniotomy localization is an essential step in neurosurgical procedures. Image guided techniques transfer the information of neuroimaging about brain lesion localization to the patient. A critical view is necessary to find out how safe and reliable it is to transfer this information to the patient's head without using image guided systems. The aim of this study was to investigate the value of image guided brain lesion and craniotomy localization compared to conventional methods.
Methods: A new developed test was performed with 10 neurosurgeons from different clinics. The first task was to perform the conventional tumor localization, planning of craniotomy and skin incision using the MRI dataset of a patient with a left temporal brain tumor. Second, the neurosurgeons were asked to plan the craniotomy and skin incision using MRI based 3D visualization with the exact localization of the segmented brain tumor. Both plans of each neurosurgeon were compared and analyzed according to the calculated brain tumor localization, location, shape and size of craniotomy.
Results: All neurosurgeons changed the craniotomy localization and skin incision in the second part of the task using the image guided tumor visualization. The mean error (±standard deviation) of tumor localization of the conventional planning was 11.45±5.09 mm in the anterior-posterior (AP) and 12±7.91 mm in the superior-inferior (SI) direction. The mean error of the craniotomy localization using conventional planning was 10.18±6.09 mm in the AP and 10.75±8.18 mm in the SI direction. The craniotomy size was significantly larger using conventional planning of the craniotomy (P=0.035).
Conclusions: Conventional brain tumor and craniotomy localization leads more frequently to errors and oversized craniotomy. Image guided surgery can reduce these errors and increase the safety and orientation for preoperative planning.