The main objective of this project is to develop an innovative strategy based on models for helping decision-making process during surgical planning in Deep Brain Stimulation. Models will rely on different levels involved in the decision-making process; namely multimodal images, information, and knowledge. Two types of models will be made available to the surgeon: patient specific models and generic models. The project will develop methods for 1) building these models and 2) automatically computing optimal electrodes trajectories from these models taking into account possible simulated deformations occurring during surgery.

The project belongs to the multidisciplinary domain of computer-assisted surgery (CAS). Computer assisted surgery aims at helping the surgeon with methods, tools, data, and information all along the surgical workflow. More specifically, the project addresses surgical planning and surgical simulation in Image Guided Surgery. It is related to the exponentially growing surgical treatment of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), originally developed in France by Pr. Benabid (Grenoble). The key challenges for this research project are 1) to identify, extract, gather, and make available the information and knowledge required by the surgeon for targeting deep brain structures for stimulation and 2) to realistically simulate the possible trajectories.