Flight-simulation technology used by military pilots to rehearse complex flight maneuvers is now helping neurosurgeons at °µĶųTV Langone to practice critical missions of their own: removing brain tumors and repairing aneurysms. The adapted technology, called the SuRgical Plannerā¢, or SRP, combines MRI and CT scans to create detailed three-dimensional computer models of a patientās brain. Using a joystick, surgeons manipulate the computer model on-screen so that they can see exactly where a tumor sits in relation to surrounding arteries, veins, and brain structures before they operate.
The developers, a neurosurgeon and a pair of Israeli military engineers, paid special attention to the simulatorās realism. Tissue glistens in the light and responds with lifelike movement to virtual surgical tools. āThe SRP lets us walk around a tumor, in a sense, and see whatās in the way so that we can plan the safest approach for surgical resection,ā explains , chair of the .
Since its debut at °µĶųTV Langone this year, the FDA-approved surgical simulator has helped neurosurgeons rehearse for dozens of challenging cases, including ones in which tumors are nestled at the , dangerously close to blood vessels, nerves, and brain structures. āBefore, we had to do all the visualizing in our minds,ā says Dr. Golfinos. āThatās not the same thing as a 3-D model, no matter how good you are. Neurosurgeons always spend extra time before every complicated case with the MRI and CT scans, looking for small but critical details. With the SRP, itās almost as if youāre inside the MRI yourself.ā
