A novel prototype for virtual-reality-based deep brain stimulation trajectory planning using voodoo doll annotation and eye-tracking
Owen Hellum, Yanyu Mu, Marta Kersten‐Oertel, Yiming Xiao
Abstract
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective surgical treatment for Parkinson’s disease. The procedure requires precise placement of a stimulation electrode into the therapeutic target while avoiding vital anatomies (e.g. blood vessels) to prevent surgical risks. Therefore, multi-contrast imaging data are often employed to capture full anatomical details for electrode trajectory planning. However, with multiple constraints to consider from several image contrasts, surgical planning with conventional 2D-display-based neuro-navigation software can be time-consuming and challenging. Virtual reality (VR) allows intuitive interaction with 3D data, and thus is an excellent fit to navigate complex anatomy for neurosurgical planning. We present the first VR-based DBS trajectory planning system, where we used a novel voodoo doll interaction strategy to allow precise surgical target selection and a line-of-sight approach with eye-tracking to determine optimal DBS trajectories. With preliminary user studies, the proposed system demonstrates great promises for efficient and intuitive DBS planning.