WHAT: In a new video available for streaming and broadcasting, Cedars-Sinai neurosurgeon Keith Black, MD, demonstrates how he is using a high-definition imaging device to see inside a patient’s brain during surgery.
The device, called Brightmatter Guide, allows surgeons to map safe pathways to reach and remove brain tumors. The device works like a GPS system, providing real-time, brightly colored 3-D images that guide surgeons through the brain’s tiny neural connections while avoiding healthy tissue. Until now, neurosurgeons have relied largely on conventional MRI scans that provide flat, two-dimensional renderings of the brain.
Cedars-Sinai is the first hospital in California to employ the device.
WHO: In the video, which can be viewed on the Cedars-Sinai YouTube channel, Black, chair of Cedars-Sinai’s Department of Neurosurgery and director of the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, demonstrates how the device works and explains how it may help neurosurgeons decrease surgery time and improve patient outcomes.
“This technology allows for us to more safely enter the brain without disturbing the important pathways connecting the brain’s critical areas of operation,” said Black.
WHY: “An estimated 62,000 primary brain tumors and 150,000 metastatic brain tumors are diagnosed annually in the U.S. This new tool offers us a tremendous amount of hope for better outcomes for many of our patients,” said Black.
Cedars-Sinai neurosurgeons perform approximately 600 brain surgeries a year. Going forward, about one-third of those procedures will be performed with the new device.
WHERE: The video can be viewed here. For additional downloading options, please contact Anasia Obioha at 310-423-7798 or [email protected]
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