BRAD - Brain Aneurysm Demonstrator

Human brain aneurysms are one of the most common reasons for death in western countries. Cerebral aneurysms tend to be complex and difficult to clip, requiring advanced surgical skills. Simulation based training has been advanced over the recent years and has also shown promising results in the field of neurosurgery. Virtual models as well as 3D-printed biomodels have been developed. However, the real biomodels have shown limitations regarding accuracy and resemblance of haptic material properties to human soft tissue. Also, to the best of our knowledge there are no virtual or real models that include brain lobes. As most of the operation time is spent on the exposure of the aneurysm, having training-models consisting of skull, blood vessels and brain lobes would be of great value. In this seed project we would like to develop a hydrogel 3Dprinter able to manufacture brain lobe models. We would like to combine the real biomodel with the virtual simulation of RISC Software GmbH, thus generating a hybrid simulator. Additionally, preliminary investigations and methodology development of risk analysis of aneurysm rupture based on computer simulations should be carried out for several types of aneurysms.