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National Center for Image Guided Therapy

Structural and Functional Mapping for Neurosurgery

Using DTI, Assessing Effect of Tumor Presurgically: White matter tracts of the fronto-occipital fasciculus are damaged and deviated medially by a high-grade glioblastoma, WHO Grade IV. The infiltrating glioblastoma is characterized by both profoundly diminished anisotropy in the FA map, and abnormal color on the directional map for the fronto-occipital fasciculus, suggesting that the disruption of white matter fiber tract organization is severe and complex.
Using DTI, Assessing Effect of Tumor Presurgically: White matter tracts of the fronto-occipital fasciculus are damaged and deviated medially by a high-grade glioblastoma, WHO Grade IV. The infiltrating glioblastoma is characterized by both profoundly diminished anisotropy in the FA map, and abnormal color on the directional map for the fronto-occipital fasciculus, suggesting that the disruption of white matter fiber tract organization is severe and complex.

The NCIGT focuses its efforts heavily on improving surgical planning, particularly with respect to neurosurgery. The goal of surgical planning when performing surgery is to remove or reduce brain tumors is to maximize the extent of tumor resection while preventing or minimizing postoperative neurologic deficits.

Two research areas that directly relate to mapping the brain for surgical planning and for which the NCIGT is well known are diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). As part of its dissemination efforts, neurosurgical investigators from the NCIGT released a NCIGT fMRI and DTI Tutorial in 2008. This tutorial was presented at an NIH/NCIGT-coordinated Clinical IGT Workshop held in March 2008 for members of the image-guided therapy community that included scientists and clinicians as well as industry and government representatives. To gauge IGT's advances, the NCIGT is performing several retrospective analyses of images taken during intraoperative neurosurgical procedures. For example, neurosurgery researchers are analyzing from a volumetric perspective the resection results from patients with metastatic brain tumors who underwent neurosurgery with intraoperative MRI-guidance. Datasets that are freely available are under Downloads along with other NCIGT resources.

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Neurosurgery Projects At The NCIGT

Principal Investigator

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