Incorporation of stereoscopic video into an image-guided neurosurgery environment

Neurosurgeons, using a standard image-guided neurosurgical system (IGNS) which refers to MRI or CT, reconstructed images for guidance in surgical procedures. At the Montreal Neurological Institute, neurosurgeons routinely view patient anatomy for surgical planning and in the operating room (OR) in both 2-D (slices) and 3-D (surface and volume rendered images) using MRI, CT, PET and DSA using an enhanced IGNS that can display the 3-D images both monoscopically and stereoscopically. The popularity of even a standard IGNS with the neurosurgeons indicates its usefulness. However the typical IGNS is limited in the amount of live feedback that it can offer. We report on the further development of the IGNS at the MNI to merge stereoscopic video with the anatomical images.