Fujifilm Healthcare Americas Corporation has made Brainlab the exclusive U.S. distributor of its ARIETTA Precision Ultrasound, with both companies planning to eventually combine it with Brainlab’s surgical navigation systems to create an end-to-end intraoperative technology for neurosurgery.

Brainlab’s products include its Ultrasound Navigation software, which shows misalignments between an intraoperatively acquired 3D ultrasound and preoperative MR scans, and Elements "Ultrasound Snap to MRI" software, which allows clinicians to update and navigate patient anatomies in real time by automatically aligning and fusing preoperative MR images with real-time intraoperative ultrasound images.

Together with the ARIETTA Precision Ultrasound, the platforms will provide real-time insights during live intraoperative ultrasound (IOUS) scans for safely resecting tumors and lesions, even when the brain shifts, which often decreases navigation accuracy, according to the companies.
“Brainlab will leverage our market-leading advanced software capabilities to transform the ARIETTA Precision into a 3D image ‘digitizer’, providing updates on patient anatomy throughout surgery,” said Sean Clark, president of Brainlab Inc., in a statement.

The combined product is expected to be used by over 2,000 neurosurgery departments across the U.S. Together, the platforms will create automatic view layouts for surgeons and allow them to superimpose intraoperative 3D ultrasound scans onto the preop data set for better assessments of the resection cavity. The digital integrations will streamline system setup for cranial imaging and plug-n-play workflows with pre-calibrated and sterilizable neurosurgery transducers, shortening procedure time by eliminating manual user calibration in the sterile field.

The ARIETTA Precision uses high-frequency ultrasound transducers and signal processing algorithms to facilitate strong image quality. It has dynamic imaging capabilities that provide continuous updates for visualizing critical structures in the brain and spinal cord in real time and can be used directly in the operating room.

For Brainlab’s Elements "Ultrasound Snap to MRI" software, the integration of ultrasound and MR is based on the fusion of rigid structures in the images that allow surgeons to overlay the MR scans onto the ultrasound ones. Ongoing research and development initiatives are underway to usher in elastic fusion, an improved form of this process that takes into account deformations and changes in tissue properties on images, improving both fusion processes and navigation.

Initially, Brainlab will distribute the ARIETTA Precision as a stand-alone product alongside its Ultrasound Navigation software, with the two being compatible for use with one another, before integrating them into a single solution.

The combined platform is expected to be FDA-cleared and available in the U.S. by mid-2024.

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