Vicomtech-IK4 takes part in the development of a virtual system for functional neurosurgery

The DIVINE project aims at providing the neurosurgeons an advanced and accessible tool for consultation, training and planning of epilepsy neurosurgeries. This surgery is necessary in case of no reduction of epileptic seizures with medication. One of the needs of the surgery is to identify the seizure focus which could be addressed in different ways: from the diagnosis tests to the deployment of measurement electrodes depending on the complexity of the case. The result of this procedure determines the final treatment of the patient that could be the ablation or the electro-stimulation to inhibit the brain area which is the origin of the seizures. Nowadays there are surgical robots to make the supervised deployment of electrodes, but the planning has no application tools available to enable the focus localisation to avoid the effusions due to the rupture of blood vessels. Moreover, these surgeries are not usually performed due to the difficulty of the planning for the neurosurgeons. This advanced tool in the track identification capacity, that enables to share cases in a dynamic way with other professionals, represents an important benefit for professionals.

Vicomtech-IK4, as well as increasing its capacities addressing these interactive graphic tools in the web, it strengthens the achieved knowledge in the surgery planning and it opens up a new field: the neurosurgery.