Project Introduction
Project Overview
This project is an iOS application designed to perform neuronavigation and assist with accuracy during neurosurgery by tracking surgical stylets.
Project Description
Neurosurgeons perform dangerous procedures on patients daily, including procedures that involve creating small holes in the skull to relieve pressure. Currently, neurosurgeons perform this surgery by locating the area of interest through a CT scan, securing the patient’s head in place, and using neuronavigation equipment to determine the precise angle and depth at which to approach the patient’s skull. Without some sort of additional assistance or calculation, this is clearly a risky procedure. Additionally, this technique and method of securing the head does not provide for any sort of flexibility or movement.
In order to minimize risks in such procedures, this project designed by Dr. Andrew Abumoussa aims to intersect two iOS applications, an iPhone app and an Apple Watch app, to work together to replicate, and improve upon, the capabilities of a multi-million dollar neuronavigation system that assists neurosurgeons during surgery. Although the project is relatively far along in the development timeline, we aim to add key contributions to help improve the overall product quality and accuracy, with the overall motivation of contributing our technical minds to support the healthcare industry.
The images and tracking data in the project currently have some interference, commonly referred to as noise, causing inaccuracies and affecting the quality of the results. To address this issue, the next steps in the project involve leveraging data from an Apple Watch that captures acceleration information. We plan to enhance the accuracy of the tracking by applying different levels of active Kalman filtering, a technique used to reduce noise and improve the precision of measurements in imaging and medical device tracking. This approach aims to refine the data quality, ultimately leading to more reliable and accurate results.