The treatment of brain tumors represents one of the most demanding challenges in the field of medicine and oncology. As well as understanding the brain for those dedicated to neuroscience. In recent years these sectors have experienced notable development also thanks to technological and instrumental innovations which have made it possible to achieve results that were unimaginable until recently. In Trento, thanks to the collaboration of the three main stakeholders of neuroscientific research in the area – University of Trento, Fondazione Bruno Kessler and provincial health services company – the first functional brain atlas was created, obtained by integrating resting functional magnetic resonance imaging data of subjects healthy patients with electrical stimulation data collected during neurosurgical operations to remove brain tumors. A complex IT integration of these two precious pieces of information, based on artificial intelligence methods, has allowed the exact definition of the distribution of the brain areas essential for 12 different functions. And it has helped to clarify the cerebral connection pathways between these thanks to a further and advanced magnetic resonance imaging method, tractography, which allows us to visualize brain fibres.
It is the result of the “NeuSurPlan” clinical research project, started in 2021 and financed by the Autonomous Province of Trento. The objective is to support technology transfer. Help clarify functional brain anatomy. And transform the scientific discoveries made in the laboratory into therapeutic and surgical applications.
This is not the only achievement that the interaction between clinics, neurosurgery and basic research has guaranteed. The integration between the experience and skills of each institution involved has allowed the creation of the first automatic system to explore brain functions at the cortical level. A software that allows you to obtain, through a short 11-minute MRI sequence, a map of different brain functions that can be used both as a tool for surgical planning, and therefore reduce the risk of damage to functional brain tissue, and to understand the mechanisms of neuronal reorganization and plasticity during the course of patients’ disease.
Finally, the combination of clinical work with laboratory work has allowed the Trentino researchers to create the first digitalized atlas of the cerebral white matter obtained by integrating the anatomical micro-dissection of the brain fibers with magnetic resonance tractography studies. A tool made available online (bradipho.eu) and which constitutes a unique resource for teaching and learning the anatomy of the main connection pathways of the human brain.
In a context in which Italian neurosurgery has reached a prominent position at an international level, the “Connect brain” conference is an opportunity to talk about new frontiers of research and surgery. Now in its third edition (the first was in 2015, the second in 2019) the event takes place in Trento from 13 to 15 June. «It is a real course – explains Silvio Sarubbo, professor at the Interdepartmental Center of Medical Sciences of the University of Trento and director of the complex Neurosurgery operational unit of the Santa Chiara hospital in Trento – born with the idea of creating a bridge between basic neuroscience and clinical, neurological and neurosurgical research. A synergy that has practical implications for the treatment of patients suffering from brain tumors.”
An initiative with a strong interdisciplinary imprint
«Our contribution – says Jorge Jovicich, scientific coordinator of the neuroimaging laboratory at the Interdepartmental Mind/Brain Center of the University of Trento – is to provide the Neurosurgery Operational Unit with a functional imaging diffusion data acquisition protocol and tools for analyzing these data jointly. Both to plan a surgical operation and analyze the post-surgery progress to monitor the patient’s cognitive recovery.”
Artificial intelligence plays an important role in the development of clinical neuroscience. «A strange short circuit is being created. On the one hand – underlines Paolo Avesani, head of the Neuroinformatics laboratory at FBK – neuroscience tries to explain how the brain works. On the other hand, artificial intelligence tries to replicate it. There is a mutual benefit between these two disciplines which is also having positive results for clinical activity.”
“Connect brain” will bring to the Trentino capital neuroscientists from all over the world, neurologists, neurophysiologists, neurosurgeons, oncologists and radiotherapists, experts in advanced neuroradiological imaging, neuroinformaticians, who will compare themselves with the new evidence regarding the functioning of the human brain and the most advanced to study it and intervene with increasingly precise and personalized surgical and medical therapies.
Over one hundred people registered and fifty speakers, coming from various European countries, the United States and Canada. Thursday and Friday are dedicated to study, debate and speaker conferences. A practical exercise session is scheduled for Saturday with some new tools developed as part of the collaboration between FBK, University of Trento and Apss. Participants will be able to try their hand at the most modern applications of technology for the treatment of brain tumors and movement disorders in general. They will be able to use these tools, learn how to use functional magnetic resonance imaging at rest and consult maps that concern both the structure of the brain and its functions.
