A 3-D ultrasound scanner for use in minimally invasive brain surgeries has been discovered by a team of biomedical engineers at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering. This brain-scanner can be used for bedside patient monitoring in the absence of CT and MRI facilities.

The following image (Credit: Image courtesy of Duke University) shows senior researcher, Stephen Smith, with the brain-scanner.

Brain surgeons currently rely on 2-D ultrasound or MRI, but a lot of information is missed in 2-D. Also MRI machines are expensive and requires a separate room and only special surgical instruments can be used near its strong magnetic field.

Last year the team reported the development of a 3-D ultrasound device for endoscopic surgeries through a tiny hole of around 3 cm diameter. To make it suitable for brain scanning, they have further shrunk the probe so that it can now go through a 10 mm key-hole in the skull. Also they had to shift the orientation of the ultrasound beam with respect to the probe. Rather than capturing a side view, the probe looks straight ahead and shoots ultrasound like water from a hose and that is how the brain’s image can be produced with only a tip inserted through the keyhole.

The team has successfully demonstrated the brain-scope on a dog’s brain, a team member was able to insert a needle into a particular part of its brain just like how it is required in brain surgeries to drain cerebrospinal fluid. They also demonstrated the use of dyes to make blood vessels clearly visible in ultrasound images of the brain.

Image:sciencedaily79758