Applications of Imaging Techniques in Neurosurgery

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Methods and Technologies Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2025 | Viewed by 706

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Neurosurgery, Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University Hospital of Careggi, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy
Interests: neurosurgery; awake surgery; intra-operative monitoring; fluorescence-guided surgery; vascular neurosurgery
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Guest Editor
Neurosurgery Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, Careggi University Hospital, University of Florence, 50121 Florence, Italy
Interests: neurosurgery; neuro-oncology; machine learning; neuroimaging; intra-operative monitoring

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Improvements have been brought about in the prognosis of patients undergoing neurosurgical procedures via refinements in technical/technological adjuncts and a better understanding of normal and pathological anatomy due to a more sophisticated depiction of the diseased brain and structures. As such, sound knowledge and familiarity with imaging representations of the central nervous system are vital not only for neuroradiologists from a diagnostic point of view but also for neurosurgeons: treatment decisions, surgical planning, risk, and prognosis estimation require surgeons to be independent evaluators of the results provided by imaging techniques. Sophisticated pre-, intra-, and post-operative techniques have become vital tools of a neurosurgeon’s toolbox.

In this Issue, we will welcome contributions investigating all these aspects in different fields of neurosurgery, for instance, pre-operative radiomics and machine learning techniques for pathology depiction and segmentations, refinements of established tools like navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation for cortical mapping, improvements in white matter segmentations and depiction (tractography), virtual and augmented reality for surgical planning, and the recent development of confocal laser microscopy for intraoperative digital biopsies. Additionally, we plan to accept imaging techniques for vascular surgery, like improvements in flow estimation and depictions, 3D representation of vascular malformations (AVMs, aneurysm, DAVFS), and functional quantifications in chronic and acute ischemic disease to guide surgical decision making.

Prof. Dr. Alessandro Della Puppa
Dr. Giovanni Muscas
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • neurosurgery
  • imaging
  • machine learning
  • augmented reality
  • surgical planning
  • segmentation
  • decision making

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

33 pages, 5180 KiB  
Review
Fluorescence Guidance in Glioma Surgery: A Narrative Review of Current Evidence and the Drive Towards Objective Margin Differentiation
by Matthew Elliot, Silvère Ségaud, Jose Pedro Lavrador, Francesco Vergani, Ranjeev Bhangoo, Keyoumars Ashkan, Yijing Xie, Graeme J. Stasiuk, Tom Vercauteren and Jonathan Shapey
Cancers 2025, 17(12), 2019; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers17122019 - 17 Jun 2025
Viewed by 86
Abstract
Fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS) was pioneered for glioma and is now established as the standard of care. Gliomas are infiltrative tumours with diffuse margins. FGS provides improved intra-operative identification of tumour margins based on tumour-specific emission visible to the operating surgeon, resulting in increased [...] Read more.
Fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS) was pioneered for glioma and is now established as the standard of care. Gliomas are infiltrative tumours with diffuse margins. FGS provides improved intra-operative identification of tumour margins based on tumour-specific emission visible to the operating surgeon, resulting in increased rates of gross total resection. Multiple fluorescence agents may be used including 5-ALA, fluorescein sodium, and indocyanine green (ICG). This review details the indication, required equipment, mechanism of action, evidence base, limitations, and regulatory issues for each fluorophore as utilised in current clinical practice. FGS for glioma is limited by a reliance on subjective interpretation of visible fluorescence, which is often not present in low-grade glioma (LGG) or at the infiltrative tumour margin. Consequently, there has been a drive to develop enhanced, objective FGS techniques utilising both quantitative fluorescence (QF) imaging systems and novel fluorophores. This review provides an overview of emerging QF imaging systems for FGS. The pipeline for novel fluorophore development is also summarised. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of Imaging Techniques in Neurosurgery)
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