title: Remote computing environment compensating for brain shift.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Anatomical and functional image data become invalid during an operation due to brain shift. Compensation is achieved by using intraoperative imaging to update anatomical information. To accelerate the registration and visualization of pre- and intraoperative image data, the presented work focuses on remote computing capabilities. The underlying framework efficiently combines local desktop computers and remote high-end graphics workstations exploiting expensive hardware.
  
  
  METHODS
  By performing all computations on the remote computer, the MR volumes are rigidly aligned via voxel-based registration. Using graphics hardware for acceleration, all interpolation operations are performed with 3D texture-mapping hardware. A new approach then transforms functional markers from preoperative measurements to the intraoperative situation using an automatic tracking algorithm to identify corresponding sulci. Communicating Java viewers are suggested for analyzing the results interactively on a local computer, with all calculations being performed exclusively on the remote computer.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The suggested approach was successfully applied in 5 cases using MR data containing functional markers of MEG and fMRI measurements identifying eloquent brain areas. Remote large-scale graphics hardware was thereby efficiently made available for fast registration and interactive direct volume rendering in neurosurgery.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall, the presented framework demonstrates efficient access of expensive high-end hardware remotely controlled by thin clients, and further emphasizes the need to compensate for brain shift in functional neuronavigation.
authors.affiliation: Neurocenter, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany. hastreiter@neurozentrum.imed.uni-erlangen.de
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hastreiter
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Engel
authors.forename: Grzegorz
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Soza
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ganslandt
authors.forename: Rudolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fahlbusch
authors.forename: Günther
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Greiner
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nimsky
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D003201:Computers; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000295:instrumentation; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D025321:Surgery, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation