Case Study: UMC Utrecht localises epilepsy electrodes with SURF’s supercomputer-powered augmented reality

UMC Utrecht localizes epilepsy surgery electrodes with millimetre accuracy using SURF

The customer, UMC Utrecht, faced the challenge of precisely locating small, deformable electrode grids placed on the brain during epilepsy surgery. Accurately determining each electrode's position relative to the brain was critical for interpreting signals but was difficult and time-consuming to do with the naked eye. They collaborated with vendor SURF to explore a solution using augmented reality visualization.

SURF implemented a solution that offloaded the processing of video streams from an AR headset to the national supercomputer Snellius. This allowed heavy AI models to run in real-time, sharpening the images to localize the electrodes with millimeter precision. The successful prototype demonstrated the feasibility of using high-performance computing to process enormous data streams, providing a crucial foundation for developing future real-time clinical applications.

UMC Utrecht