IMRIS has announced that Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St Louis is the first US hospital to use VISIUS iMRI for more than 1,000 procedures. This clinical experience and published evidence by the neurosurgical team has shown that intraoperative MRI is an effective tool for improving results and outcomes for patients undergoing brain surgery.
“Using MR during procedures instead of after, we can truly measure what we have accomplished and go back and resect more tumour before actually completing the surgery. We cannot see this tumour without iMRI. Our published experience has shown this leads to better long-term survival and quality of life,” says Michael Chicoine, Barnes-Jewish neurosurgeon and associate professor of neurological surgery at Washington University School of Medicine, USA. “While the iMR is among the tools we use, the patients are the real beneficiaries as we limit the risks for returning to surgery.”
Installed in 2008, the VISIUS Surgical Theatre is a three-room suite where a high-field MR travels between two hybrid operating rooms using ceiling-mounted rails with a third room in the middle for storing the scanner when not in use. The high-quality MR imaging provides surgeons with on-demand access to real-time updated image detail during the procedures without moving the patient, according to the company.
IMRIS CEO and president Jay D Miller says: “This milestone sets the neurosurgical team at Barnes-Jewish and Washington University apart in their pioneering leadership and experience. Their expertise and that of other VISIUS installations is moving iMR towards the standard of care for certain tumours and greater utilisation for other neurosurgical procedures.”
IMRIS supports on-going studies and research regarding the use and benefits of ceiling-mounted iMRI through an expanding Washington University School of Medicine multicentre neurosurgical database called I-MiND (IMRIS Multicentre iMRI Neurosurgery Database) which includes a number of hospitals.
