Intraoperative Computed Tomography for Registration of Stereotactic Frame in Frame-Based Deep Brain Stimulation.

BACKGROUND: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) electrode placement utilizing a frame-based technique requires registration of the stereotactic frame with computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. This traditionally has been accomplished with a conventional CT scanner. In recent years, intraoperative CT has become more prevalent. OBJECTIVE: To compare the coordinates obtained with intraoperative CT and conventional CT for registration of the stereotactic frame for DBS. METHODS: Patients undergoing DBS electrode placement between 2015 and 2017, who underwent both conventional and intraoperative CT for registration of the stereotactic frame, were included for analysis. The coordinates for the stereotactic target, anterior commissure, and posterior commissure for each CT method were recorded. The mean, maximum, minimum, and standard deviation of the absolute difference for each of the paired coordinates was calculated. Paired t-tests were performed to test for statistical significance of the difference. The directional difference as well as the vector error between the paired coordinates was also calculated. RESULTS: The mean absolute difference between conventional and intraoperative CT for the coordinate pairs was less than 0.279 mm or 0.211 degrees for all coordinate pairs analyzed. This was not statistically significant for any of the coordinate pairs. Moreover, the maximum absolute difference between all coordinate pairs was 1.04 mm. CONCLUSION: Intraoperative CT imaging provides stereotactic frame registration coordinates that are similar to those obtained by a standard CT scanner. This may save time and hospital resources by obviating the need for the patient to go to the radiology department for a CT scan.