| January 14, 2010 | Media contact: Margarita Wagerson E-mail: mbauza@med.umich.edu Phone: 734-764-2220 |
U-M acquires cutting edge technology to care for children with brain tumors
New MRI scanner allows doctors to scan the brain during operations to determine the difference between normal brain cells and tumor cells
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Doctors at the new University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital will be able to scan a child’s brain while operating to remove a brain tumor.
The intraoperative MRI will be part of the neuroscience operative suite in the new state-of-the-art $754-million U-M C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital currently under construction. It will be the first of its kind available to patients in the state.
“The system will greatly improve current technology for removal of brain tumors in children,” says Karin Muraszko, M.D., F.A.C.S., chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Michigan Health System.
"The IMRIS system brings cutting edge MRI technology into the operating room to obtain brain or spine images, in the middle of a surgical procedure, without moving the patient or compromising the surgical field,” Muraszko adds. “This will advance our ability to care for patients with brain tumors, epilepsy and even patients with hydrocephalus. The IMRIS system lets us obtain the best available MRI imaging in the middle of an operation to determine what’s going on.”
A surgeon can use the location, appearance and texture of the tissue to determine what is normal brain and what is tumor in a patient undergoing a resection of brain tumor, says Hugh Garton, M.D., MHSc, pediatric neurosurgeon at the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.
“But none of these tools are completely accurate,” Garton adds. “There is good evidence for brain tumors that the long-term outcome is better with a completed resection than for one that is not complete. During procedures, we could face a difficult choice regarding tissue about which we are unsure. Removing it is risky and could cause permanent neurological injury. Leaving it behind could risk committing the patient to a second surgical procedure and an increased risk of complications.”
A neurosurgical patient may be best served when up-to-date MRI views of the surgical field are available. Without this technology, to obtain this information, the surgical procedure would have to be concluded, the patient moved under general anesthesia from the surgical suite on one floor to an MRI imaging suite on a different floor, through an environment that is not sterile.
The IMRISneuro system features a 1.5 Tesla magnetic resonance scanner operating in a fully integrated suite that allows the scanner to move between an operating room and a diagnostic room, providing on-demand imaging during surgical procedures.
In addition, the equipment offers exciting potential in both training future UMHS neurosurgeons and conducting neuroscience research.
“Intraoperative MRI provides immediate feedback as to the both the nature of the tissue in the surgical field and the anatomic relationships of critical structures of the brain as they are oriented in a surgical procedure. For me to be able to demonstrate to a surgical trainee the correlations between what he or she is seeing in the surgical field and what the MRI shows should accelerate the learning process," says Cormac Maher, M.D, a pediatric neurosurgeon at the University of Michigan Health System.
“We are excited by the research possibilities, for example, in developing agents that more accurately identify tumor cells on both the MRI and in the operating room,” adds Maher.
No other system offers the same degree of safety for both the patient and the surgical environment. IMRISneuro does not require the patient to be transported for scanning, so the optimum position for neurosurgery is never compromised.
Clinical workflow and surgical access to the patient is not impacted and the magnet is removed completely from the operating room when scanning is complete.
IMRISneuro provides neurosurgeons with timely images during surgery from which they are able to make better decisions for their patients.
Peter Strouse, M.D., director of pediatric radiology at UMHS, says the IMRISneuro system is a critical acquisition for Mott.
"We have a chance to do something really good with this piece of equipment. It’s really cutting edge and for neurosurgery, if we want to be the leaders and the best, it’s just something we had to have.”
About the new U-M C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital
The U-M Health System plans to open a 1.1 million square feet, $754-million state-of-the-art facility for children and women in 2012. The new C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital will provide a new and larger home for specialty services for newborns, children and women such as the pediatric liver transplant program, Level I Pediatric Trauma Program, Pediatric and Adolescent Home Ventilator Program, and Craniofacial Anomalies Program, high-risk pregnancy services and specialty gynecological services. The new hospital will enhance the inpatient and outpatient services within the current MottHospital, the world-renowned MichiganCongenitalHeartCenter, the BirthCenter and the Holden Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Mott was ranked among the best in the country in eight of 10 pediatric specialty areas featured in the U.S. News Media Group's 2009 edition of "America's Best Children's Hospitals."
About IMRIS
IMRIS (TSX: IM) is a global leader in providing image guided therapy solutions. These solutions feature fully integrated surgical and interventional suites that incorporate magnetic resonance, fluoroscopy and computed tomography to deliver on-demand imaging during procedures. The Company's systems serve the neurosurgical, cardiovascular and neurovascular markets and have been selected by leading medical institutions around the world.
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