Insightec has expanded its non-invasive neurosurgery system from 3T to 1.5T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems. This launch expands the potential market for Insightec’s ExAblate Neuro as 1.5T systems are the most common MRI systems in use today. The system is immediately available in the European market and is pending regulatory approvals in additional markets.
This product expansion is made possible by an Insightec-designed custom imaging coil that improves the intra-operative imaging performance on the 1.5T MRI to allow for this surgery. The first two treatments were successfully performed in Palermo, Italy, led by the Departments of Radiological Sciences at the University Hospital “Paolo Giaccone” of Palermo and Sapienza University of Rome, School of Medicine, with the collaboration of leading neurosurgeons from both Centro Diagnostico Italiano (CDI) and Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta of Milan. The system acquisition was made through a research grant from the Italian Ministry of Education and Research.
“This head coil posed quite a design challenge,” cites Eyal Zadicario, vice president of research and development at Insightec. “We had to create a unique coil design that was half-immersed in the water bath that surrounds our patients’ heads during treatment. It also has to be invisible to the ultrasonic acoustic beams that perform the surgery and at the same time provide the image resolution and clarity necessary to allow surgeons to make 1mm adjustments during surgery.”
“Being able to bring focused ultrasound neurosurgery to patients and hospitals that only have access to 1.5T MRIs is a significant step in the continuing growth of this emerging platform,” says Richard Schallhorn, vice president of Neurosurgery for Insightec. “This important technological advance, together with the growing number of clinical indications for MR-guided focused ultrasound neurosurgery, provides an opportunity to provide a safe, effective, non-invasive surgical option for a large number of patients.”
