SBIR Phase I: A cognitive dashboard to support clinical decision making in neurosurgery

这一小企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是支持神经外科医生在保护患者精神功能的同时切除导致癫痫发作的脑瘤或脑组织的能力。多达五分之四的神经外科患者在手术后自我报告认知困难，这对他们的生活质量产生了负面影响。切除脑瘤或治疗难治性癫痫的神经外科干预措施试图不导致患者术后认知障碍，但有时需要切除的病理组织涉及支持关键能力的脑组织，如说话、记忆或移动的能力。由于较高关键功能(如语言、记忆、运动)的精确位置存在个体间的差异，每个患者的大脑必须以个性化的方式进行映射。最终，患者希望有信心，他们将从脑部手术中走出来，成为与他们进入手术时一样的人，临床团队希望有工具支持量化的术前手术规划和基于证据的术后功能预测。这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目寻求支持一种软件产品的开发，该软件产品使神经外科团队能够跟踪患者在护理过程中的心理功能，即一种认知仪表盘。目前的做法缺乏一种工具来识别脑组织，如果切除，将导致长期的认知缺陷。该项目的核心成果是一个交钥匙软件平台，支持脑成像协议，以及对每个患者护理时间线上的精神功能测量进行评估、评分、存档和共享。该软件平台将与所有医疗中心已经到位的关键现有系统(例如，头颅导航、脑电(EEG)和磁共振成像(MRI)刺激显示系统)相集成。该项目核心成果的后续工作是基于这样一个前提，即来自先前研究的患者的数据可以用于训练人工智能/机器学习(AI/ML)算法，然后这些算法可以用来模拟给定手术计划对新患者未来认知功能的预期影响。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to support the ability of neurosurgeons to remove brain tumors or brain tissue that is causing seizures while protecting the patient’s mental function. As many as 4 in 5 neurosurgery patients self-report a cognitive difficulty after surgery that negatively impacts their quality of life. Neurosurgical interventions to remove brain tumors or treat medically refractory epilepsy try not to cause post-operative cognitive deficits in patients, but sometimes the pathological tissue that needs to be removed is involved with brain tissue that supports critical abilities, like the abilities to talk, remember, or move. Because there is inter-individual variability in the precise location of higher critical functions (e.g., language, memory, locomotion), each patient’s brain must be mapped in a personalized way. Ultimately, patients want confidence they will be the same person coming out of brain surgery as they were going into surgery, and clinical teams want tools that support quantitative pre-operative surgical planning and evidence-based projections of post-operative function.This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project seeks to support the development of a software product that enables neurosurgical teams to track patients’ mental function over the trajectory of their care, i.e., a type of cognitive dashboard. Current practice lacks a tool that identifies brain tissue that, if removed, would result in long-term cognitive deficits. This project’s core deliverable is a turn-key software platform that supports brain mapping protocols, as well as assessment, scoring, archiving and sharing of measures of mental function across the timeline of care of each patient. The software platform will integrate with critical existing systems already in place in all medical centers (e.g., cranial navigation, electroencephlogram (EEG), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) stimulus display systems). Follow-on work to this project’s core deliverable is based on the premise that data from prior studied patients can be used to train artificial intelligence/machinge learning (AI/ML) algorithms which can then be used to simulate the expected effect of a given surgical plan on a new patient’s future cognitive function.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.