Intraoperative ultrasound (ioUS) in neurosurgery was first described in 1978 by Reid. Over the years, ioUS has mainly been confined to marginal applications due to the limitations of poor resolution, user dependency, difficult semiology - orientation and lack of specific training which have hampered its implementation in routine surgical practice. Nowadays, thanks to substantial technical improvements and adjuncts (e.g. fusion imaging), ioUS has become one of the most appealing techniques for intraoperative imaging in neurosurgery and, notably, the only one truly real-time imaging technique. An impressive number of applications have been described, spanning from anatomical to functional studies in particular for oncological cases.
This Research Topic embraces two aims: 1) to gather the existing experiences and evidence in the field of ioUS in brain tumor surgery in a comprehensive collection; 2) to stimulate the report of new applications and technical innovations of ioUS in neuro-oncological practice. The final purpose is to enhance the level of evidence in favor of ioUS applications in neurosurgical oncology, to foster the research in this field and to encourage ioUS implementation among neurosurgeons.
Authors are welcome to submit original articles, reviews, opinions, perspectives, methodology articles that seek to depict the current state-of-the-art and future evolutions.
Some potential themes of interest for this Research Topic:
· Specific applications in oncological neurosurgery: intra-axial, extra-axial, medullary, and peripheral nervous system tumors
· Advanced ioUS modalities (doppler, contrast-enhanced ultrasound, elastography, fusion imaging)
· Integration of ioUS and neuro-navigation to correct brain shift and brain deformation
· Comparison between ioUS and other intra-operative imaging technologies (MRI, CT, fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy)
· Experimental applications (follow up, outpatient clinics, new modalities)
· Characterization of tumors’ histological al molecular features exploiting ioUS
· Implementation of augmented reality, artificial intelligence, machine learning to enhance ioUS findings
Intraoperative ultrasound (ioUS) in neurosurgery was first described in 1978 by Reid. Over the years, ioUS has mainly been confined to marginal applications due to the limitations of poor resolution, user dependency, difficult semiology - orientation and lack of specific training which have hampered its implementation in routine surgical practice. Nowadays, thanks to substantial technical improvements and adjuncts (e.g. fusion imaging), ioUS has become one of the most appealing techniques for intraoperative imaging in neurosurgery and, notably, the only one truly real-time imaging technique. An impressive number of applications have been described, spanning from anatomical to functional studies in particular for oncological cases.
This Research Topic embraces two aims: 1) to gather the existing experiences and evidence in the field of ioUS in brain tumor surgery in a comprehensive collection; 2) to stimulate the report of new applications and technical innovations of ioUS in neuro-oncological practice. The final purpose is to enhance the level of evidence in favor of ioUS applications in neurosurgical oncology, to foster the research in this field and to encourage ioUS implementation among neurosurgeons.
Authors are welcome to submit original articles, reviews, opinions, perspectives, methodology articles that seek to depict the current state-of-the-art and future evolutions.
Some potential themes of interest for this Research Topic:
· Specific applications in oncological neurosurgery: intra-axial, extra-axial, medullary, and peripheral nervous system tumors
· Advanced ioUS modalities (doppler, contrast-enhanced ultrasound, elastography, fusion imaging)
· Integration of ioUS and neuro-navigation to correct brain shift and brain deformation
· Comparison between ioUS and other intra-operative imaging technologies (MRI, CT, fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy)
· Experimental applications (follow up, outpatient clinics, new modalities)
· Characterization of tumors’ histological al molecular features exploiting ioUS
· Implementation of augmented reality, artificial intelligence, machine learning to enhance ioUS findings
