Insights from using biplanar intersection for freehand frontal ventriculostomy: a retrospective case-control study with virtual simulation.

Background: Frontal ventriculostomy (FV) is essential in neurosurgery; however, traditional freehand puncture methods have low accuracy, and ultrasound guidance is time consuming and expensive. To improve freehand puncture accuracy, this study introduced a biplanar intersection (BI) method, and analyzed the frontal-horn puncture mechanism. No related reports exist to date.

Marker-less augmented reality based on monocular vision for falx meningioma localization.

Background: The existing augmented reality (AR) based neuronavigation systems typically require markers and additional tracking devices for model registration, which causes excessive preparatory steps.

Methods: For fast and accurate intraoperative navigation, this work proposes a marker-less AR system that tracks the head features with the monocular camera. After the semi-automatic initialization process, the feature points between the captured image and the pre-loaded keyframes are matched for obtaining correspondences.

Assessment of a 3D printed simulator of a lateral ventricular puncture in interns' surgical training.

Purpose: In this study, a simulator for training lateral ventricular puncture (LVP) was developed using three-dimensional (3D) printing technology, and its function of improving the skills of LVP in young interns was evaluated.

Methods: A virtual 3D craniocerebral simulator of a 51-year-old female patient with hydrocephalus was reconstructed with 3D printing technology. The anatomical and practical validity were assessed by all interns on a 13-item Likert scale.

A virtual reality-based data analysis for optimizing freehand external ventricular drain insertion.

Purpose: This work exploits virtual reality technique to analyse and optimize the preoperative planning of freehand external ventricular drain (EVD) insertion. Based on the three-dimensional (3D) virtual brain models, neurosurgeons can directly observe the anatomical landmarks and complete the simulated EVD insertion. Simulation data is used to optimize preoperative planning parameters to ensure the surgical performance.

Development and evaluation of a craniocerebral model with tactile-realistic feature and intracranial pressure for neurosurgical training.

Objective: In this article, a craniocerebral model is introduced for neurosurgical training, which is patient-specific, tactile-realistic, and with adjustable intracranial pressure.

Methods: The patient-specific feature is achieved by modeling from CT scans and magnetic resonance images (MRI). The brain tissue model is built by the hydrogel casting technique, while scalp, skull, vasculature, and lateral ventricles are all-in-one fabricated by three-dimensional (3D) printing.