Neurosurgery team at London Health Sciences Centre with the portable MRI machine used during a brain tumour surgery that doctors say was a world first.
*Photo courtesy of London Health Sciences Centre.
A neurosurgery team at London Health Sciences Centre has performed what doctors say is a world-first procedure using a portable MRI machine during brain surgery to help remove a complex pituitary tumour.
The surgery, led by neurosurgeon Neil Duggal at University Hospital, used a portable MRI scanner during the operation to determine whether any tumour tissue remained before surgeons completed the procedure.
Duggal said the technology gives surgeons immediate information while working in one of the most delicate areas of the brain.
“Having that precise knowledge of where the tumour is and that reassurance from the portable MRI is game changing,” Duggal said.
Pituitary tumours develop in the pituitary gland, which produces hormones that regulate important body functions including growth, metabolism and blood pressure. Most tumours are benign and slow growing, but their position near critical structures in the brain, including the optic nerves and carotid arteries, can make surgery particularly complex.
During the minimally invasive procedure, surgeons work through the patient’s nostrils using an endoscopic technique rather than making an open incision. Duggal said the approach limits how much of the surrounding anatomy surgeons can see during the operation, making imaging during surgery valuable.
The portable MRI allowed the surgical team to identify a small amount of remaining tumour that could be safely removed before the operation ended.
Doctors say using imaging during the procedure may help reduce the likelihood that patients will require a second surgery.
Dave Evans, a patient at London Health Sciences Centre, says his symptoms improved after undergoing brain tumour surgery in which surgeons used a portable MRI during the procedure. *Photo courtesy of London Health Sciences Centre.
Dave Evans, the patient who underwent the operation, had been experiencing fatigue, headaches and worsening vision before doctors discovered the tumour.
Evans said learning he needed brain surgery was both frightening and reassuring.
“It was a combination of relief and trepidation,” Evans said. “I was relieved there was an explanation for my symptoms and that there was a path forward.”
Following the surgery, Evans said the improvement in his health has been dramatic.
“To be free of those symptoms, to have my strength and energy back, it has just been liberating,” he said.
Hospital officials say the portable MRI system can also be used in intensive care units and other hospital departments, potentially improving access to imaging for other patients.
