Munich/Guenzburg, Germany – The Department of Neurosurgery Ulm University and Günzburg District Hospital have inaugurated the BrainSUITE iMRI, a digitally-integrated workflow-optimized neurosurgical operating room.

It combines image-guided surgery, high-field intra-operative magnetic resonance imaging, visualization and comprehensive OR data management.

The BrainSUITE has been added to the Department of Neurosurgery Ulm University/Günzburg District Hospital, helping to further their goal to increase precision in surgery and improve clinical results for patient treatment by enhancing the broad range of modern technology used at the hospital.

The integrated MRI provides surgeons with more precise and up-to-date anatomical information during surgery for making better and more timely decisions.

For example, where otherwise post-operative imaging would be relied upon, intra-operative information allows surgeons to ensure that a brain tumor has been fully resected before concluding an operation.

The integrated navigation system links real-time, intra-operative HD images with the spatial position of the surgical instruments.

This provides neurosurgeons with a higher level of accuracy regarding tumor location and amount of diseased tissue removed, making surgery more precise and safer for the patient.

A clinical study of the University of Erlangen has shown that in 37 percent of surgeries results could be improved with an intra-operative MRI. A reduced number of revision surgeries also means cost savings for the hospital.

Typical risks associated with brain surgery are injury to critical structures and consequential damages. For clinicians, it is often impossible to differentiate between tumor and healthy tissue with the naked eye.

The BrainSUITE iMRI enables surgeons to reduce these risks by identifying critical functional areas and pathways within the brain during the procedure with MR imaging, allowing them to reach the tumor more efficiently and remove it more completely.

The resection of a tumor can also lead to anatomical changes during surgery due to tissue movement ("brain shift"). As a consequence, the accuracy of pre-operative MRT data decreases during the course of a surgery. The combination of surgical navigation and intra-operative MRI provides surgeons with up-to-date information enabling them to precisely remove tumors.

Dr. Christian Wirtz, medical director of the Department of Neurosurgery Ulm University/Günzburg District Hospital, said: "BrainSUITE offers us new treatment options for a broad range of indications including benign and malignant brain tumors and tumors of the pituitary gland. The precise imaging combined with the surgical navigation helps to make complicated surgeries safer. Functional and AVM cases also can benefit from the intra-operative imaging capabilities. Patients appreciate that we are able to control tumor resection during surgery faster and with higher security. By today, 34 patients have been operated in the BrainSUITE."

The BrainSUITE at the Günzburg district hospital combines a high-field MRI by Siemens, an image-guided surgery system by BrainLAB, a Zeiss microscope and a Trumpf operating table, together with other components. With the digital data management system BrainSUITE NET, patient data from the hospital's picture archiving and communications system can be accessed by the surgeons or staff in the OR.

Accessibility and control is a necessity during a complex neurosurgical procedure, offering a completely integrated OR can improve the outcome for the patient. In Germany, similar neurosurgical OR from BrainLAB are in clinical use in Erlangen and Hanover. Worldwide 24 BrainSUITE iMRI are currently used for neurosurgical interventions.