Software requirements for interventional MR in restorative and functional neurosurgery.

Interventional MRI (iMRI) holds great promise for optimally guiding and monitoring restorative and functional neurosurgical procedures. This technology has already been used to guide ablative therapies and insert deep brain stimulation electrodes, and many future applications are envisioned. An optimized software interface is crucial for efficiently integrating the imaging data acquired during these procedures. MR systems are largely dedicated to image prescription and acquisition, whereas neuronavigation systems typically operate with previously acquired static data. An optimal software interface for iMRI requires fusion of many of the capabilities offered by these individual devices and further requires the development of tools to handle the integration and presentation of dynamically updated data.