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Intraoperative mapping of the sensory cortex by time-resolved thermal imaging

  • Nico Hoffmann EMAIL logo , Yordan Radev , Edmund Koch , Uwe Petersohn , Gerald Steiner and Matthias Kirsch
Published/Copyright: September 29, 2018
Biomedical Engineering / Biomedizinische Technik
From the journal Biomedical Engineering / Biomedizinische Technik Volume 63 Issue 5

Abstract

The resection of brain tumor requires a precise distinction between eloquent areas of the brain and pathological tumor tissue in order to improve the extent of resection as well as the patient’s progression free survival time. In this study, we discuss mathematical tools necessary to recognize neural activity using thermal imaging cameras. The main contribution to thermal radiation of the exposed human cortex is regional cerebral blood flow (CBF). In fact, neurovascular coupling links neural activity to changes in regional CBF which in turn affects the cortical temperature. We propose a statistically sound framework to visualize neural activity of the primary somatosensory cortex. The framework incorporates a priori known experimental conditions such as the thermal response to neural activity as well as unrelated effects induced by random neural activity and autoregulation. These experimental conditions can be adopted to certain electrical stimulation protocols so that the framework allows to unveil arbitrary evoked neural activity. The method was applied to semisynthetic as well as two intraoperative cases with promising results as we were able to map the eloquent sensory cortex with high sensitivity. Furthermore, the results were validated by anatomical localization and electrophysiological measurements.

Keywords: functional mapping; neurosurgery; penalized splines; statistical data analysis

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the European Social Fund (Funder Id: 10.13039/501100004895, Grant no. 100087783) and the Free State of Saxony. The authors would also like to thank all other organizations and individuals, especially the surgical and nursing staff, who supported this research project.

  1. Author Statement

  2. Research funding: This work was supported by the European Social Fund (project no. 100270108) and the Saxonian Ministry of Science and Art.

  3. Conflict of interest: Authors state no conflict of interest.

  4. Informed consent: Informed consent is not applicable.

  5. Ethical approval: The conducted research is not related to either human or animals use.

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Received: 2017-12-13
Accepted: 2018-08-30
Published Online: 2018-09-29
Published in Print: 2018-10-25

©2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Guest Editorial
  3. Optical imaging methods in medicine: how can we escape the plausibility trap?
  4. Special Issue Articles
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  9. Hyperspectral imaging in perfusion and wound diagnostics – methods and algorithms for the determination of tissue parameters
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  11. Intraoperative mapping of the sensory cortex by time-resolved thermal imaging
  12. Intraoperative motion correction in neurosurgery: a comparison of intensity- and feature-based methods
  13. Optical molecular imaging of corpora amylacea in human brain tissue
  14. Intraoperative optical imaging of metabolic changes after direct cortical stimulation – a clinical tool for guidance during tumor resection?
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  16. Hyperspectral imaging: innovative diagnostics to visualize hemodynamic effects of cold plasma in wound therapy
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https://doi.org/10.1515/bmt-2017-0229
Keywords for this article
functional mapping; neurosurgery; penalized splines; statistical data analysis

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Guest Editorial
  3. Optical imaging methods in medicine: how can we escape the plausibility trap?
  4. Special Issue Articles
  5. Diffuse near-infrared imaging of tissue with picosecond time resolution
  6. A compact hyperspectral camera for measurement of perfusion parameters in medicine
  7. LED for hyperspectral imaging – a new selection method
  8. Approaches for calibration and validation of near-infrared optical methods for oxygenation monitoring
  9. Hyperspectral imaging in perfusion and wound diagnostics – methods and algorithms for the determination of tissue parameters
  10. Algorithms for mapping kidney tissue oxygenation during normothermic machine perfusion using hyperspectral imaging
  11. Intraoperative mapping of the sensory cortex by time-resolved thermal imaging
  12. Intraoperative motion correction in neurosurgery: a comparison of intensity- and feature-based methods
  13. Optical molecular imaging of corpora amylacea in human brain tissue
  14. Intraoperative optical imaging of metabolic changes after direct cortical stimulation – a clinical tool for guidance during tumor resection?
  15. Application of optical and spectroscopic technologies for the characterization of carious lesions in vitro
  16. Hyperspectral imaging: innovative diagnostics to visualize hemodynamic effects of cold plasma in wound therapy
  17. Hyperspectral imaging as a possible tool for visualization of changes in hemoglobin oxygenation in patients with deficient hemodynamics – proof of concept
  18. Cardiovascular assessment by imaging photoplethysmography – a review
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