First Patients Treated Successfully in BrainSUITE iMRI, the Fully Integrated Neurosurgical Operating Room
Dubai, UAE - King Fahad Medical City (KFMC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, today announced that it has already successfully treated more than 20 neurosurgery patients in BrainSUITE® iMRI. BrainSUITE iMRI is a fully integrated workflow-optimized neurosurgical operating room (OR) that combines all surgical and diagnostic tools including image-guided surgery (IGS), intra-operative Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), visualization, and data management technology for the treatment of complicated neurosurgical cases such as brain tumors. The objective of the integration of different technologies is to improve clinical results.
BrainSUITE iMRI is one of the leading integrated OR solutions in the world. KFMC is the first hospital in the Middle East to offer a fully integrated BrainSUITE iMRI to its neurosurgery patients. After 20 months of planning and implementation, the integrated operating room was completed in September 2007. With the installation, KFMC joins a group of 20 leading hospitals worldwide treating neurosurgery patients in a BrainSUITE iMRI.
"BrainSUITE raises the standard of neurosurgical treatments at KFMC. The technology enables us to leverage medical expertise to achieve significantly better results for our patients. With this integration of intra-operative Magnetic Resonance Imaging with neuro-navigation, we can intra-operatively verify the outcome of a tumor resection before the surgery is completed. This helps to ensure high precision and to avoid re-operations," says Dr. Mahmoud Al Yamani, Director of Neurosciences Center, King Fahad Medical City. "The integration of Intra-operative Magnetic Resonance Imaging with neuro-navigation certainly allows us to treat indications like brain tumors and metastases with greater confidence".
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) estimates that there are more than 250,000 new cancer cases each year in the Middle East and North Africa. Cancer also accounts for more than 175,000 deaths in the region annually. The mortality rate in these countries is higher than in other regions due to the continuing need for patient awareness, access to better diagnostics and innovative treatment methods. With the implementation of leading technology, patients in the region get better access to advanced healthcare.
BrainSUITE iMRI was developed by German medical technology company BrainLAB to meet the highest demands in neurosurgery. The integration of image-guided surgery and MR imaging gives surgeons the tools they need to localize brain tumors more accurately. This allows them to help protect the critical functions of the brain and to verify if a tumor has been removed completely before finalizing an operation. Beyond anatomical imaging, additional scanning options such as functional MRI and Diffusion Tensor Imaging provide the surgeon with valuable information about the functional structure of the patient's brain. Research has shown that in 37 percent of the cases the use of intra-operative imaging lead to a change in the treatment, e.g. that re-operations could be avoided due to a better resection rate.
Both the diagnostic and functional images needed for image-guided neurosurgery can be updated during the procedure, facilitating treatment that is more precise and safer for the patient. By providing more complete tumor resection control, BrainSUITE can decrease re-operation and complication rates, and increase navigation accuracy. This helps hospitals to contain treatment costs while providing patients with better care.
"With the implementation of BrainSUITE iMRI, KFMC joins a worldwide group of leading medical centers that have treated more than 4,000 patients", says Jean Hooks, General Manager Oncology Solutions, BrainLAB. "Patients have access to some of the most advanced medical treatments here in the Middle East without needing to travel abroad."
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About King Fahad Medical City (KFMC)
Built at a cost of SR2.3 billion, with four hospitals, King Fahad Medical City (KFMC) is the largest and most advanced medical facility in the Middle East that specializes in treating rare and specialty diseases. The complex located in the north of Riyadh (Sulaimaniyah area) incorporates a 459-bed Main Hospital with specialty clinics, a 159-bed Rehabilitation Hospital, a 246-bed Children's Hospital, and a 236-bed Maternity Hospital. In addition to the hospitals, it has 30 fully equipped operating rooms and contains the largest number of Intensive Care beds in the region. The Cardiac Center, the Neurosciences Center, Hematology Oncology Center, and the Diabetic Center are each a part of our core competencies. The Central Lab is an independent lab and is also a core competency here at KFMC. It is expected that more than 50,000 in-house patients and more than 600,000 outpatients will be treated annually.
KFMC has been able to attract pioneers in various specialty fields and we strongly believe that in the coming few years this will be the most highly developed healthcare facility in the Middle East. The Neuroscience Center at KFMC strives to be the best in providing state of the art medical care, clinical training and scientific research in the field of Neuroscience.
About BrainLAB
BrainLAB develops, manufactures and markets software-driven medical technology that enables procedures that are more precise, less invasive, and also less expensive than traditional treatments. Among the core products are image-guided systems that provide highly accurate real-time information used for navigation during surgical procedures. This utility has been further expanded to serve as a computer terminal for physicians to more effectively access and interpret diagnostic scans and other digital medical information for better informed decisions. BrainLAB solutions allow expansion from a single system to operating suites to digitally integrated hospitals covering all subspecialties from neurosurgery, orthopedics, ENT, CMF to spine & trauma and oncology. With more than 2,950 systems installed in over 70 countries, BrainLAB is a market leader in image-guided technology. The privately held BrainLAB group, founded in 1989, is headquartered in Munich, Germany and today employs more than 950 people in 16 offices across Europe, Asia, Australia, North and South America.
For more information, visit BrainLAB at www.brainlab.com
For Further Information, Please Contact:
Aileen Culligan
ASDA'A Public Relations - Dubai
Exclusive Affiliate of Edelman PR Worldwide in the Middle East & North Africa
Website: www.asdaa.com
Tel: +971 4 3355 969
Fax: +971 4 3356 080
Email: a.culligan@asdaa.com
Eva Schuster
Communications Manager
BrainLAB AG
Tel. +49 89 99 15 68-312
Email: eva.schuster@brainlab.com
© Press Release 2008
