Immersive Virtual Reality and Ocular Tracking for Brain Mapping During Awake Surgery: Prospective Evaluation Study

EN BREF ...

« Verbal language, which is controlled by the dominant hemisphere, is widely mapped in this way. Other cognitive functions, such as visuospatial cognition and nonverbal language, including facial expressions and eye gaze, which play an important role in social interaction, have been explored by only a few groups. One of the main reasons for the lack of mapping these functions is the difficulty in adapting classic bedside neuropsychological tasks to awake surgery conditions. In particular, the patient must give an unambiguous answer within 5 seconds, which is the maximum duration of DES. Therefore, there is a need for new tools, allowing complex neuropsychological evaluations, that are compatible with the restrictive environment of an operating room and awake brain surgery procedures. A few years ago, we began exploring the feasibility of testing cognitive functions during awake craniotomy by immersing the patient in virtual situations with a virtual reality headset (VRH). We have developed several different approaches using different types of headsets and software. The first virtual reality (VR) tasks were developed with the aim of preventing postoperative hemianopsia and unilateral neglect. » En bref issu de l’étude.