Operating room technology
Operating room technology
Smart I 52
brain surgery
The brain is incredibly complex, with certain parts and processes still a mystery to us. It is that level of complexity that necessitates a skilful pair of hands during surgery on the organ. But as with all areas of medicine, technological progression has brought aids that help guide procedures and reduce the rate of complications. Isabel Ellis speaks to Shadi Dayeh, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California San Diego, and Kevin Lee, professor of neuroscience at the University of Virginia, about how their technologies could make brain surgery safer and smarter.
t is no secret that brain surgery is a frightening concept. Surgical interventions are highly effective for reducing or eliminating seizures, but given how highly people value their thinking apparatuses, it should not be a surprise that relatively few patients with drug-resistant epilepsy end up having them.
“As far as I can gauge,” says Kevin Lee, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Virginia, “I think it’s the most underused treatment for a neurological disorder that’s actually highly effective. It’s the hardest thing: I can explain to people that there’s a treatment out there that is going to make them
better, but there’s still resistance, even in the medical field, for referrals.
“Once you get people to that point, there’s this reluctance – it’s like saying, ‘Well, do you want to go and have brain surgery?’ There’s a fear of having your skull cracked open – and I get that – and then there are worries about complications.” It is a bit different with tumours, of course, but that is not because the procedure for removing them is necessarily any smoother. As Shadi Dayeh, an engineering professor at the University of California San Diego, explains, sensors on the manually assembled electrocorticography (ECoG)
Practical Patient Care /
www.practical-patient-care.com
Sergey Nivens/
Shutterstock.com
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