Personalized Treatment Planning in Intracranial Aneurysm Surgeries.

Patient understanding of their medical condition and treatment satisfaction has gained increasing attention in medicine. As for neurosurgical conditions however, the treatment plan is often difficult for patients to comprehend, with many of them having an inaccurate understanding of the involved anatomy.

Novel technologies therefore may play a role in facilitating patient education. In particular, conventional 2D images makes it sometimes difficult for surgeons to inform their patients about the planned intervention and potential complications. This is why new modalities have been developed for patient information and may have further an impact on resident education to better estimate the treatment plan and potential complication. For the latter, given that intracranial aneurysms (lAs) are increasingly treated via endovascular methods, training opportunities are reduced and understanding of the vascular anatomy can become difficult.

The objective of this study is to explore the advantages of conventional, virtual reality and 3D stereolithographic models for patient and resident education in the treatment of lAs.

Inclusion criteria

• All patients undergoing elective surgery for non-ruptured IA during the study period will be considered for inclusion. Patients are included if they are at least 18 years old and are able to give informed consent and signed the informed consent form.

Exclusion criteria

• Patients with ruptured or mycotic IA are not considered. Furthermore, patients elected for IA surgery that are younger than 18 years old, as well as patients who are unable to give informed consent (e.g. neurological impairments) will not be included.