3D Technology Maps the Brain During Surgery

A novel multidisciplinary approach to patient care merges informatics, advanced imaging, and robotics to bring state-of-the-art visualization to the operating room (OR).

The Synaptive Medical (Toronto; Canada) Servo system is an advanced OR solution based on BrightMatter Guide tactographic capabilities. When BrightMatter Guide is interfaced with BrightMatter Vision optics and the BrightMatter Drive robotic arm, the Servo system can address the complexities of the OR and transform the surgical workflow. A camera mounted on a robotic arm automatically follows the surgeon’s instruments, with a customizable field of view projected onto a monitor and viewable by the entire operating team.


Using three-dimensional (3D) visuals overlaid on an anatomical scan derived from preoperative imaging and volumetric anatomical and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) renderings, the system can help visualize tractographic tool intersection and continuous tracking of multiple tools throughout a procedure, for real-time location updates within the surgical cavity. Until now, neurosurgeons have relied largely on conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans that provide flat, two-dimensional renderings of the brain.

The three technologies--Guide, Vision, and Drive--are designed to work in concert in order to allow greater flexibility in both the navigation and execution of complex surgery, allowing surgeons to spend less time in manipulating cumbersome optics, as well as permitting them to work in a comfortable, upright position while actively communicating with their staff during the procedure. BrightMatter Guide, Vision, and Drive are approved by the U.S. Food and drug Administration (FDA).

“This technology allows for us to more safely enter the brain without disturbing the important pathways connecting the brain's critical areas of operation,” said Keith Black, MD, chair of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles, CA, USA; www.cedars-sinai.edu) department of neurosurgery, the first medical center in California to employ Servo. “An estimated 62,000 primary brain tumors and 150,000 metastatic brain tumors are diagnosed annually in the United States. This new tool offers us a tremendous amount of hope for better outcomes for many of our patients.”

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