Mayo Clinic invests in advanced imaging technology to aid in brain tumor surgery

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Given its commitment to offering brain tumor and other brain surgery patients the most sophisticated care possible, Mayo Clinic announces its investment in what surgeons say is the world's most advanced neurosurgical diagnostic imaging system. This technology, an intraoperative Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) system known as the IMRIS Neuro system, allows surgeons to use real-time imaging as they operate and uses a unique ceiling-mounted track that moves the MRI system to the patient rather than the patient having to be moved to the magnet. Most intraoperative MRIs are fixed in place next to the operating room, requiring patients to be physically moved while in surgery.

"Real-time images provided by the intraoperative MRI during surgery will help us see if the brain has shifted and if we've removed all of the tumor," says Dr. Robert Wharen, a Mayo Clinic neurosurgeon and chair of the Department of Neurosurgery. "This improves the outcome for the patient not only in the successful retrieval of all the cancerous tissue, but also because the patient does not have to be moved during surgery. The less an anesthetized patient is moved, the better."

According to IMRIS, the company that developed the IMRIS Neuro system, there are fewer than a dozen other medical centers in the country that are currently utilizing the IMRIS Neuro system. Mayo Clinic's Jacksonville campus is currently the only medical center in the greater Southeast to have purchased this technology.

"This is the best technology available to date, and we are excited that we will be able to offer it to our patients," Wharen says.

The new IMRI suite will be available in summer 2008 following the opening of Mayo Clinic's new hospital on its San Pablo Road campus in April, 2008.

The suite will occupy 1,800 square feet on the second floor of Mayo Clinic's new hospital, near the Diagnostic Radiology area. The MRI imaging equipment will be separated from an operating room by automatic sliding doors. At the push of a button, the doors will open and the 1.5-Tesla Espree magnet will travel to the operating room suspended from a ceiling-mounted rail system within 90 seconds.

Mayo's purchase of the IMRIS Neuro system is part of a $30 million, five-year commitment to further expand its neurosciences department and provide patients with the best technology and clinical care possible.

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