Increasing Brain Surgery Success Rate!... UNIST Develops 'Real-Time Brainwave Display'

Real-Time Brain Activity Monitoring with LED Display

Normal and Lesion Tissues Easily Distinguished by Eye

A real-time brain activity monitoring technology that can dramatically increase the success rate of brain surgery has been developed.

This technology enables the visual distinction between normal and lesion tissues, which is expected to greatly enhance the precision of surgical procedures.

Professor Youngbin Choi at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST).

The research team led by Professor Choi Youngbin from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at UNIST (President Lee Yonghoon) has developed a technology that visualizes neural activity on the brain surface in real time. This technology allows for the real-time identification of pathological activity during brain surgery, enabling the precise removal of lesion tissue and the protection of critical brain areas.

The intracranial EEG microdisplay (iEEG-microdisplay) developed by Professor Choi's team can measure, interpret, and visually display cortical surface activity in real time. In particular, it helps to electrophysiologically distinguish and visualize critical brain tissues during neurosurgical procedures, making it easier to clearly identify boundaries.

When removing specific brain regions affected by lesions during surgery, it is crucial to accurately identify functional boundaries. The intracranial EEG microdisplay, created by combining thousands of channels of micro-ECoG electrodes and thousands of pixels of flexible micro LEDs, visualizes brain activity in real time to assist neurosurgeons in performing successful surgeries.

The research team also demonstrated the effectiveness of this technology through experiments on pigs and mice. By enabling real-time understanding of brain structure and function via the brainwave display, this technology is expected to contribute to various research and applications in the field of neurosurgery.

Professor Choi Youngbin stated, "With this technology, we can now visualize the electrophysiological activity of the brain surface in real time during surgery," and added, "It opens up the possibility of more accurately identifying which brain tissues need to be incised and which critical areas should be preserved. If applied clinically, this technology could greatly improve surgical outcomes for patients."

Expected Benefits of Visualizing Functional Brain Maps Using iEEG-Microdisplay.

The results of this research were published in the international journal Science Translational Medicine on April 24. This study was conducted in collaboration with research teams from UC San Diego, Oregon Health and Science University, and MGH, and was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.