Treatment planning of brain implants using vascular information and a new template technique

A new template technique has been developed for implanting hyperthermia cat heters in the treatment of brain tumors, The technique utilizes an imaging template and a drill template which can be rigidly secured to the head with three skull screws, The anatomic and vascular information needed for hyper thermia treatment planning may be assessed with three-dimensional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and angiography acquisitions which use a surface coi l. In the companioning treatment planning system the catheter positions and lengths and the electrodes in the catheter can be interactively manipulate d relative to the anatomy and vasculature. The visualization of the blood v essels relative to the template allows the minimization of the risk on intr acranial hemorrhages. This template technique is useful for any brain tumor implants, especially when a large number of catheters are involved. A phan tom test has shown that this procedure has an accuracy in the order of I mm provided that the MB-related geometry distortions are minimized.