Tracked tongue tumor surgery

Contact: Prof. dr. B.H.W. Hendriks (benno.hendriks@philips.com)

About the Project

Tracking of oral cavity carcinomas in head and neck surgery

Head and neck surgeons operate on a fine edge between radical resection of tumors and sparing vital structures (e.g. arteries and nerves), visible only on specific preoperative scans (CT/MR). Identification of deep tumor margins inside the tongue is currently mainly based on palpation and experience/expertise of the surgeon, because reliable quantitative feedback is lacking. As a result, positive and suboptimal resections are common. By means of image-guided surgery, we can navigate the procedure by visualization of pre-operative planned MR and/or CT based 3D models and providing the surgeon with real-time feedback on the position of the surgical tool within this model and more important, relative to the tumor margins. These innovations may allow to reduce both irradical resections and morbidity. We are working on a study to use MR-based three-dimensional (3D) models of surgical resections for intra-operative navigation in head and neck surgery.

Your Responsibilities

You will participate in the forefront of research developing a navigation technique to track oral cavity tumors during surgical procedures. To this end, you will contribute to novel approaches for real-time feedback during surgical procedures, which has the potential to significantly improve patient’s lives.

Topics addressed are electromagnetic surgical navigation, non-rigid image registration, and performing experiments in a clinical setting. Your responsibilities cover but are not limited to review of state of the art literature and performing phantom experiments, data analysis from surgeries in which the navigation technique is used, evaluation and documentation of results in internal reports and report in detail on your scientific and experimental work.

Your Profile

We are looking for a motivated student in Biomedical Engineering for a Master thesis. To be successful in your internship, you

• Have a biomedical background

• Have a solid and proven background in programming (Matlab, C++, Phyton, or comparable)

• Mathematical understanding of complex applications is a prerequisite

• Have a systematic and thorough way of working

• Take responsibilities and act on these

• Are enthusiastic, focused and have a result-driven mind-set

• Possess good communication skills and strong research skills

• It is advantageous if you have experience in navigation techniques, image processing and working in a clinical setting.