New gadget predicts brain swelling in surgery
Brain surgery isn’t new. In fact, surgeons have spent the better part of the 19 th through the 21 st centuries cutting out parts of the skull of patients who are suffering from brain trauma.
A new gadget though just may change the way brain surgeries of the future are conducted.
“A new simulation tool developed by a team of researchers for Stanford U and the University of Oxford will help make the procedure a lot safer,” an article by Engadget reads. “Decompressive craniectomy, as the method is called, gives the swelling brain space to expand in order to save a person’s life after a head injury. However, it could also lead to complications.”
Some of the complications are because when the brain bulges out of a hole in the skull, the fragile nerve cells can stretch and break. The new tool can help to minimize potential complications by alerting surgeons of the best place to cut, and depending on the injury, show them how large the hole should be.
“To develop the tool, the team studied medical scans showing the amount of swelling for different types of brain injuries. They then created mathematical estimates that can predict how an injury would affect different parts of the organ,” the article reads. “Once they were done designing the system they then ran different scenarios through the simulation and found that you’ll see serious damage if axons expand near or above 30 percent. The resulting simulation, by the way, displays the most affected parts of the brain in red, areas that sustained mild damage in green and safe parts in blue.”
The different colors offer surgeons a visual guide to decide where the best and safest place on the skull is to perform the decompressive craniectomy.
“The team knows their creation is in its very early stages, and they’re hoping that surgeons could pitch in and help them develop it further,” the article reads.
