Chapter 7
Biomechanical Modelling of the Brain for
Neuronavigation in Epilepsy Surgery
Karol Miller, Angus C. R. Tavner, Louis P. M. Menagé, Nicholas Psanoudakis,
Grand Roman Joldes, Simon K. Warfield, Damon Hyde, and Adam Wittek
7.1 Introduction
It is commonly believed that epilepsy can be treated and managed, but ultimately not
cured; a quick internet search for ‘epilepsy’ will confirm this. However this is not
the case, as amongst the more medically informed, it is well known that precisely
targeted surgery is a curative treatment [7]. Engel also argues that the surgical
treatment of epilepsy is ‘arguably the most underutilised of all proven effective
therapeutic interventions in the field of medicine’ [7]. The explanation for this
apparent underuse of surgery to cure epilepsy lies in the phrase ‘precisely targeted’:
clinicians are often unable to characterise or locate epileptic activity within the brain
accurately enough to identify which regions to resect and proceed with surgery [19].
In this chapter we describe how computational biomechanics of the brain (see
also Chap. 6 in this book) can help to precisely and reliably locate seizure-onset
zones (SOZ) and visualise them with respect to pre-operative brain anatomy as part
of a system to improve intra-operative visualisation, navigation and monitoring.
K. Miller () · A. C. R. Tavner · L. P. M. Menagé · N. Psanoudakis · G. R. Joldes · A. Wittek
Intelligent Systems for Medicine Laboratory, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA,
Australia
Institute of Mechanics and Advanced Materials, Cardiff School of Engineering, Cardiff
University, Cardiff, Wales, UK
e-mail: karol.miller@uwa.edu.au
S. K. Warfield · D. Hyde
Computational Radiology Laboratory, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School,
Boston, MA, USA
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
K. Miller (ed.), Biomechanics of the Brain, Biological and Medical Physics,
Biomedical Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04996-6_7
165
Biomechanical Modelling of the Brain for
Neuronavigation in Epilepsy Surgery
Karol Miller, Angus C. R. Tavner, Louis P. M. Menagé, Nicholas Psanoudakis,
Grand Roman Joldes, Simon K. Warfield, Damon Hyde, and Adam Wittek
7.1 Introduction
It is commonly believed that epilepsy can be treated and managed, but ultimately not
cured; a quick internet search for ‘epilepsy’ will confirm this. However this is not
the case, as amongst the more medically informed, it is well known that precisely
targeted surgery is a curative treatment [7]. Engel also argues that the surgical
treatment of epilepsy is ‘arguably the most underutilised of all proven effective
therapeutic interventions in the field of medicine’ [7]. The explanation for this
apparent underuse of surgery to cure epilepsy lies in the phrase ‘precisely targeted’:
clinicians are often unable to characterise or locate epileptic activity within the brain
accurately enough to identify which regions to resect and proceed with surgery [19].
In this chapter we describe how computational biomechanics of the brain (see
also Chap. 6 in this book) can help to precisely and reliably locate seizure-onset
zones (SOZ) and visualise them with respect to pre-operative brain anatomy as part
of a system to improve intra-operative visualisation, navigation and monitoring.
K. Miller () · A. C. R. Tavner · L. P. M. Menagé · N. Psanoudakis · G. R. Joldes · A. Wittek
Intelligent Systems for Medicine Laboratory, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA,
Australia
Institute of Mechanics and Advanced Materials, Cardiff School of Engineering, Cardiff
University, Cardiff, Wales, UK
e-mail: karol.miller@uwa.edu.au
S. K. Warfield · D. Hyde
Computational Radiology Laboratory, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School,
Boston, MA, USA
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
K. Miller (ed.), Biomechanics of the Brain, Biological and Medical Physics,
Biomedical Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04996-6_7
165