Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Sep 16, 2020
Date Accepted: Feb 16, 2021
Immersive virtual reality and ocular tracking for brain mapping during awake surgery
ABSTRACT
Background:
Language mapping during awake brain surgery is now a standard procedure. However, mapping is more rarely performed for other cognitive functions important for social interaction, such as visuo-spatial cognition and non-verbal language, including facial expressions and eye gaze. The main reason for this is the lack of tasks fully compatible with the restrictive environment of an operating room and awake brain surgery procedures.
Objective:
To evaluate the feasibility and safety of a virtual reality headset (VRH) with eye tracking and an immersive visuo-spatial and social VR experience in patients undergoing awake craniotomy.
Methods:
Fifteen patients with brain tumours near the language area were included. Language mapping was performed with a naming task, DO 80, presented on a digital tablet and then in two and three dimensions via the VRH. The patients were also immersed in a visuo-spatial and social VR experience.
Results:
None of the patients experienced VR sickness. Two patients suffered an intraoperative focal seizure without consequence, but there was no reason to attribute this to VRH use. Patients were able to perform VR tasks. Eye tracking was functional, enabling the medical team to analyse the patients’ attention and exploration of the visual field of the VRH directly.
Conclusions:
We showed that it is possible and safe, during awake brain surgery, to immerse the patient in an interactive virtual environment, paving the way for new VR-based brain mapping procedures. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03010943
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.