Publications by authors named "Colin Galvin"
Benchmarking NousNav: quantifying the spatial accuracy and clinical performance of an affordable, open-source neuronavigation system.
Int J Comput Assist Radiol Surg
August 2025
Purpose: NousNav is a low-cost, open-source neuronavigation platform built to address the high costs and resource limitations that hinder access to advanced neurosurgical technologies in low-resource settings. The low-cost and accessibility of the system is made possible using consumer-grade optical tracking and open-source software packages. This study aims to assess the performance of these core enabling technologies by quantifying their spatial accuracy and comparing it to a commercial gold standard.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMotor mapping-guided resection of a brainstem recurrent pilocytic astrocytoma.
Neurosurg Focus Video
January 2025
Brainstem tumors are bounded by a compact topography of eloquent tracts, cranial nerves, and nuclei. Reliable intraoperative neuromonitoring aids microneurosurgical technique to optimize safe resection. The authors present a case of motor mapping-guided resection of a recurrent brainstem pilocytic astrocytoma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Presurgical planning for brain tumor removal is essential to avoid post-operative neurological deficits, with the use of advanced brain mapping techniques gaining prominence.
- Functional MRI (fMRI) helps identify important brain regions for motor, language, and visual functions, but some patients may struggle to perform tasks during imaging due to existing impairments.
- Connectome fingerprinting (CF) uses machine learning to predict task-related brain activations based on resting-state fMRI data, demonstrating high accuracy in predicting motor functions, which could be beneficial when task data is difficult to obtain.
Article Synopsis
- The standard treatment for brain tumors involves surgically removing as much of the tumor as possible, but challenges like brain shift make this difficult.
- Intraoperative imaging techniques like iMRI and iUS can assist in visualizing brain tumors during surgery, with iUS being quicker but less detailed than iMRI.
- A newly released extensive database of MRI and iUS images from surgical cases aims to improve brain tumor research, enhance neurosurgical training, and facilitate AI advancements in medical imaging.
The standard of care for brain tumors is maximal safe surgical resection. Neuronavigation augments the surgeon's ability to achieve this but loses validity as surgery progresses due to brain shift. Moreover, gliomas are often indistinguishable from surrounding healthy brain tissue.
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