Consider yourself in an unknown town and you lost your way. Ancient days it used to be celestial bodies like pole star to guide sailors. Modern days it is google maps and GPS technology. Similar is the situation, when a neurosurgeon enters brain. Earlier days crude guidelines like bony prominences were utilized to mark the extent and location of tumors. But now science has given something more to these surgeons. The technology is known as NEURONAVIGATION. Using this technology, neurosurgeon can precisely locate the tumor and extent of tumor and this gives added advantage and safety to surgical procedure like:
1.Preventing wrong side surgery
2.Minimal touching of normal brain, which in turn prevents post surgical neurological weakness or deficits.
3.Minimizing surgical time
4.Increasing precision of surgery
5.Increasingly rates of clearance of the tumor
6.It can be attached to operating microscopes and navigation can be performed at microscopic levels.
This technology is not only used for brain tumors, but also for biopsy of deep seated lesions, functional neurosurgery (like deep brain stimulation, where electrodes are implanted into precise location of brain).
Neuronavigation requires special sequence of MRI imaging, which can be done easily during regular MRI scan. The images are loaded on a CD and this in turn is loaded on to planning station to generate map of brain. Once planned, the images are loaded on to the machine, which is finally used by neurosurgeon.
This technology has even gone to the extent that surgeon can even operate virtually and predict on-table difficulties.
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