Marisa Quattrone with Robert J. Maciunas, MD, (Univ. Hosp.)

Nonrigid Registration Algorithm for Warping Intraoperative MR Scans to Preoperative MR Scan for Optimal Surgical Navigation

Selected neurosurgical patients will have markers filled with Vitamin E placed on their heads to appear on an MRI scan of their brains. The BrainLab Navigation System will be used to register and match these markers on the MRI scan to the actual spatial area of the head at the beginning of the surgical procedure.  Intraoperative MRI images will be taken and then several different algorithms will be used to warp the pre- and intraoperative images.  This method of nonrigid registration will be very useful in ensuring optimal surgical navigation, making these procedures more accurate and less invasive.