Schematic Electrode Map for Navigation in Neuro Data Sets

Abstract

Neuro resection surgery is one of the last resorts when treating epilepsy patients where conservative treatment shows no effect on seizure reduction. However, due to the severity of the surgery, the resection planning has to be as precise as possible in order to avoid harming any critical anatomy. The tight time constraints in clinal routine demand for a highly optimized workflow. In this work, we therefore introduce a novel visualization in order to simplify the navigation in the complex multi-modal neuro data sets and support the clinician with the planning procedure. We propose a schematic electrode map based on a force-directed graph model providing an intuitive overview over the topology of the implanted depth electrode configuration. To further facilitate the planning workflow, our carefully designed electrode glyph supports different scalar, nominal and binary annotations augmenting the view with additional information. Brushing and linking techniques allow for easy mapping of the EEG data to the corresponding anatomy, as well as for straight-forward navigation within the visualization of the anatomical and functional imaging modalities in order to identify the origin and spread of the seizure. Our results show that the proposed graph layouting method successfully removes occlusions of the projected electrodes while maintaining the original topology of the depth electrode configuration. Initial discussions with clinicians and the application to clinical data further show the effectiveness of our methods.