Electrocorticographic Monitoring of Brain Retraction Injury
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Electrocorticography as a Neurophysiological Marker for Intraoperative Monitoring of Brain Retraction
IRAS ID
310742
Contact name
William Muirhead
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
UCLH/UCL Joint Research Office
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 31 days
Research summary
In many neurosurgical procedures the brain needs to be moved out of the surgeon's way to access the surgical target (typically for surgery where the pathology is in the skull base such as a cerebral aneurysm or vestibular schwannoma for example). This is most often achieved with a ‘brain retractor’ - a metal spatula which is used to push the brain out of the way and hold it there. If too much pressure is applied, or even if a moderate amount of pressure is applied for a prolonged duration, brain damage will occur.
Whether a patient will develop brain injury after a period of retraction can be difficult to predict as the development of damage depends not just on the duration of retraction and the force applied to the retractor but also on the structure of the brain tissue at the site of retraction, the geometry of the retractor, the mean arterial pressure and the
presence of any previous insult to the brain. If a surgeon knew a particular retractor was causing brain injury, it is typically possible to mitigate this by loosening off the retractor and allowing the brain to recover. Surgeons, however, are typically not aware of which retractors are causing brain injury until after the event.The purpose of this research is to see if monitoring the electrical signal of the brain immediately under the retractor can provide a means of monitoring tissue health and alerting the surgeon to injury before it occurs.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Leeds East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/YH/0046
Date of REC Opinion
21 Apr 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion