Digital modeling of a heterogeneous and dynamic brain phantom: application to the choice of an RGB camera for intraoperative functional brain mapping studies

RGB imaging is a non-invasive technique that is able to monitor hemodynamic brain responses following neuronal activation during neurosurgery. These cameras are often present in operating rooms, but a robust quantification is complicated to perform during neurosurgery. Liquid blood have been proposed, but it is not possible to model hemodynamic responses similar to those that occur in the brain. To overcome this issue, we propose a 3D brain model, including activated, non-activated grey matter and temporal hemodynamic fluctuations using Monte Carlo simulations. Several setups were modeled to evaluate their impact for identifying activated brain areas using statistical parametric mapping.