A system (10) and method (20) for planning a neurosurgical operation are provided the system (10) comprises an input (11) for receiving functional data (25) and anatomical data of a brain region (31), and a processor (12) configured to perform the method (20) according to the invention. The method (20) comprises analyzing (26) the functional data (25) to form a network representation (27) of functional connections, mapping the network representation (27) of the functional connections and the anatomical data to a common coordinate system, determining an expected function loss associated with a simulated removal of network nodes (32) or network connections (42) from the network representation (27), and identifying critical network connections and/or critical network nodes based on the expected function loss.
