Tracking Brain Deformations in Time-Sequences of 3D US Images

Special Issue on Ultrasonic Image Processing and AnalysisInternational audienceDuring a neuro-surgical intervention, the brain tissues shift and warp. In order to keep an accurate positioning of the surgical instruments, one has to estimate this deformation from intra-operative images. We present in this article a feasibility study of a tracking tool based on intra-operative 3D ultrasound (US) image sequences. The automatic processing of this kind of images is of great interest for the development of innovative and low-cost image guided surgery tools. The difficulty relies both in the complex nature of the ultrasound image, and in the amount of data to be treated as fast as possible