Infrared thermography mapping plus neuronavigation target location in an eloquent area cavernoma resection

Abstract

Background: Safety and efficacy are irrebuttable goals in neurosurgery. Methods: We performed a subcortical cavernoma resection in an eloquent area, where we recorded and compared the maximal and minimal brain temperature measured by an infrared thermographic camera and thermometer with the neuronavigation (NN) target location and real anatomical lesion location. Results: The hottest cortical point correlated to the subcortical cavernoma location. The NN located the target at 10 mm away from the hottest point. Conclusion: More studies are needed to better understand the thermic radiation of the brain in health and in disease, but we believe that evaluating brain temperature, it could be possible to improve accuracy in neurosurgery and generate more knowledge about brain metabolism in vivo.

Localization of irritative zones in epilepsy with thermochromic silicone

“…is can be even more difficult, if the appearance of healthy tissue is the same as that of diseased tissue to the naked eye, as occurs very frequently in epilepsy surgery since cortical dysplasias are the etiologies most frequently responsible for drug-resistant epilepsy and its gross appearance is indistinguishable from healthy brain tissue. To make surgeries more precise, effective, and safe, we have developed the ITM protocol [1][2][3] and the TTS that allow real-time assessment of brain metabolism without using stains, contrasts, lights, radiation, or special filters, with a significantly low cost compared to ECoG, which would favor its use in emerging economies like ours. We believe that this facilitates decision-making for the neurosurgeon Figure 4: Graphs of the measurements with the laser pointer thermometer of the first stage of the infrared thermography mapping.…”

“…Our research team has proven the usefulness of these new intraoperative evaluation methods in other pathologies, such as tumor surgery, cavernomas, and abscesses, among others, in addition to their use in epilepsy surgery. [1][2][3] In this series of 10 consecutive cases, there were no complications associated with the use of any of the methods described. ere was a 100% correlation between ITM, TTS, and ECoG in detecting IZs in drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy.…”

“…e samples of the tissues obtained were sent to pathology. [1][2][3] e purpose of performing the three stages of ITM previously described is to verify the consistency in the identification of hypothermic areas of the brain by the three methods and subsequently compare them with the results of the ECoG.…”