The Brain at Your Fingertips: Med3DPresenter – Neurosurgery in 3D

To mark the Long Night of Research, which takes place on 24 April 2026, Alexander Thaller and Stefan Wolfsberger discuss innovations in neurosurgery that will be presented for the first time during the Long Night of Research and will consequently be incorporated into the medical curriculum.

Alexander Thaller: Professor, you took up your professorship at the Department of Neurosurgery here at the LKH University Hospital Graz and the Medical University of Graz more than four years ago. As Head of the Clinic, you have the opportunity to set specific priorities in teaching and research within your own discipline. What projects have you been able to implement during this time?

Stefan Wolfsberger: Neurosurgery is characterised by the use of technical aids that facilitate operations and can contribute to a broader understanding of the discipline. I am therefore primarily concerned with intraoperative imaging modalities, which led to the introduction of our intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging scanner. We are also playing a key role – partly through your research work – in the further development of the visualisation of subcortical fibre tracts for intraoperative neuronavigation. Furthermore, it is important to me that our junior doctors receive sound neuroanatomical and neurosurgical training on cadavers at an early stage; for this reason, every junior doctorresident is exempted from clinical work for one month at the start of their training so that they can learn and practise neurosurgical approaches on human specimens at the Division of Macroscopic and Clinical Anatomy. However, I am particularly pleased about the recent implementation of the Med3DPresenter, which was awarded and funded with 50,000 euros by the Medical University of Graz as part of its efforts to improve teaching quality.

Alexander Thaller: I’d like to discuss the Med3DPresenter with you in more detail. On the one hand, it represents a new innovation in the field of imaging techniques; on the other, it holds great potential when it comes to student teaching. Could you please explain exactly what the Med3DPresenter is and how it came to be used?

Stefan Wolfsberger: In neurosurgery, it has always been difficult to convey surgical teaching content in a way that comes as close as possible to our work in the operating theatre. This is ultimately due to the complex anatomy of the brain and the need to develop a spatial understanding of the surgical site and beyond using the smallest possible surgical approaches. In this context, it is particularly important to perceive depth in order to make millimetre-precise decisions with confidence. This led to the development of the Med3DPresenter, which enables the stereoscopic display of anatomical photos and models, as well as imaging and surgical videos. Structures can be rotated and zoomed in on in real time, providing a much more comprehensive understanding of the brain’s anatomy.

Alexander Thaller: I can certainly confirm the benefits of 3D visualisations. When I processed the first surgical videos for our university department and then viewed them in 3D, I gained a completely different understanding and feel for the underlying neuroanatomy. Is the Med3DPresenter already in use?

Stefan Wolfsberger: We have now completed the development work to the extent that the Med3DPresenter can be integrated into teaching from the summer semester of 2026. We would like to present the resulting teaching opportunities for the first time at the Long Night of Research on 24 April 2026. This means that not only students, but also anyone interested, will be able to enjoy discovering the human brain in 3D! Afterwards, the Med3DPresenter will be gradually introduced as part of PM XVIII – Diseases of the Nervous System in neurosurgical lectures and seminars – initially in courses on skull base surgery.

Alexander Thaller: So far, I have already been able to show 3D surgical videos in our lectures. What can students look forward to in the future?

Stefan Wolfsberger: With the introduction of the Med3DPresenter, we are establishing a direct link between anatomical structures, clinical issues and the necessary surgical steps. Students can thus better understand the underlying anatomy before the surgical steps are worked through together. This creates an interactive 3D teaching method that acts as a bridge between anatomical knowledge and microsurgical excellence, thereby revolutionising neurosurgical teaching. We are thus enabling a more intuitive understanding of the impact of neurosurgical pathologies on the delicate and extensive network of the brain, as well as the consequences of any surgical procedures.

Alexander Thaller: You mentioned that the Med3DPresenter will be used for the first time at the Long Night of Research on 24 April 2026. What programme have you put together for this?

Stefan Wolfsberger: We want to give everyone interested an insight into how one operates at the centre of thought. To this end, we have put together three fascinating cases, which will be presented by Fabian Flaschka, yourself, and myself. The audience can look forward to new 3D models of the brain and skull, which we will use to work through the cases together, thereby making neurosurgery a little more accessible. We hope for a lively turnout and plenty of questions!

“How do you operate at the centre of thought? Experience neurosurgery in 3D” is the contribution from the Department of Neurosurgery for the Long Night of Research 2026. Stefan Wolfsberger and his team will present their daily work on 24 April 2026 at 5.00 pm, 6.00 pm and 7.00 pm in the Main Lecture Theatre of the Division of Macroscopic and Clinical Anatomy (Auenbruggerplatz 25, 8036 Graz).

This text was written by Alexander Thaller as part of the ‘Medical Research’ extension course.