The Magnetic Resonance Center of the University Children's Hospital Zurich has achieved a world first breakthrough in MR-guided, non-invasive neurosurgery. Ten patients have been successfully treated by means of transcranial high-intensity focused ultrasound. This fully non-invasive procedure opens new horizons for neurosurgery and the treatment of different neurological brain disorders.
In the context of a clinical study at the MR Center of the University Children's Hospital Zurich transcranial MR-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) for brain surgery has been successfully applied for the first time world-wide. A research team under the direction of Professor Daniel Jeanmonod, neurosurgeon at the Department of Functional Neurosurgery of the Neurosurgical Clinic at the University Hospital Zurich and Professor Ernst Martin, director of the Magnetic Resonance Center at the University Children's Hospital Zurich succeeded in proving the safety and efficacy of this revolutionary surgical method which permits fully non-invasive brain interventions even on an out-patient basis.
For quite some years, HIFU has been used for the treatment of uterine fibroids and tumors of the prostate gland. However, its application to the brain through the intact skull for non-invasive neurosurgery was not possible until recently, because of insurmountable technical difficulties.
Non-invasive neurosurgery
In a Swiss National research project, the team of the University of Zurich successfully implemented and optimized a prototype system for transcranial Magnetic Resonance-guided High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) for neurosurgical interventions. The HIFU system ExAblate® 4000, developed by the cooperation partner InSightec, Tirat Carmel Israel, has been combined with a 3 Tesla high field GE MR-scanner. The two systems together provide a platform for image-guided, non-invasive interventions. Since September 2008 ten patients were treated at the Children's Hospital Zurich with this new neurosurgical procedure in the context of a clinical study. All interventions were completed successfully and without complications. This novel technology now opens up new horizons allowing to develop non-invasive intervention procedures for a variety of brain diseases including brain tumors..jpg "A patient has been prepared for neurosurgery with transcranial MR-guided High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU). Credit: MR Center, University Children's Hospital Zurich")