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NousNav: A low-cost neuronavigation system for deployment in lower-resource settings

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International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

NousNav is a complete low-cost neuronavigation system that aims to democratize access to higher-quality healthcare in lower-resource settings. NousNav’s goal is to provide a model for local actors to be able to reproduce, build and operate a fully functional neuronavigation system at an affordable cost.

Methods

NousNav is entirely open source and relies on low-cost off-the-shelf components, which makes it easy to reproduce and deploy in any region. NousNav’s software is also specifically devised with the low-resource setting in mind.

Results

It offers means for intuitive intraoperative control. The designed interface is also clean and simple. This allows for easy intraoperative use by either the practicing clinician or a nurse. It thus alleviates the need for a dedicated technician for operation.

Conclusion

A prototype implementation of the design was built. Hardware and algorithms were designed for robustness, ruggedness, modularity, to be standalone and data-agnostic. The built prototype demonstrates feasibility of the objectives.

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Data availability

This article does not contain patient data.

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Correspondence to Étienne Léger.

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Léger, É., Horvath, S., Fillion-Robin, JC. et al. NousNav: A low-cost neuronavigation system for deployment in lower-resource settings. Int J CARS 17, 1745–1750 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11548-022-02644-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11548-022-02644-w

Keywords

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