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

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/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肿瘤或脑组织的能力。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，对他们的生活质量产生负面影响。切除脑肿瘤或治疗难治性癫痫的神经外科干预措施尽量不引起患者术后认知障碍，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。因为在更高的关键功能的精确位置上存在个体间的变异性（例如，语言，记忆，运动），每个病人的大脑必须以个性化的方式映射。最终，病人希望有信心，他们将是同一个人走出脑部手术，因为他们进入手术，和临床团队需要支持定量术前手术计划和术后循证预测的工具，这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目旨在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的精神功能，他们的护理轨迹，即，a type类型of cognitive认知dashboard仪表板.目前的做法缺乏一种工具来识别脑组织，如果删除，将导致长期的认知缺陷。该项目的核心交付成果是一个交钥匙软件平台，该平台支持脑映射协议，以及评估、评分、存档和共享每个患者护理时间轴上的心理功能测量。该软件平台将与所有医疗中心已经到位的关键现有系统集成（例如，颅导航、脑电图（EEG）和磁共振成像（MRI）刺激显示系统）。该项目核心可交付成果的后续工作是基于这样的前提，即来自先前研究患者的数据可用于训练人工智能/机器学习（AI/ML）该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

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.