At RSNA 2014, Paramed Medical Systems presented the new applications of MROpen, an MRI system with cryogen-free superconductive technology and open sky design.
The new clinical applications, available in 2015, will utilise MROpen in interventional MRI procedure as well as in “hybrid integrated operating rooms” (ORs equipped with advanced imaging devices), to assess the outcome of neurosurgery and spine surgery in real time.
Interventional applications will include specific MR-guided procedures such as thermoablation, vertebroplasty, cervical and lumbar nucleolysism, pulsed radiofrequency treatment, needle-biopsy of the musculoskeletal system, and ozone therapy.
Paramed says that the MROpen will have a stronger impact on surgeries when integrated in hybrid ORs. By scanning patients in the exact position they have been operated on, it will be possible to assess the outcome of a surgical procedure with greater details and strong advantages. Paramed also hopes that an increased success rate of first attempt surgeries will reduce the necessity of repeating the procedure, eliminating additional time and costs related to that, as well as avoiding negative psychological impact on patients.
A company press release states that the MROpen’s design and technology have the potential of solving major problems that have so far limited the clinical efficacy and feasibility of interventional MRI and integrated hybrid ORs. The system design and magnetic field containment allow the surgeon to operate at a very short distance from the magnet, without any interference of the MRI with the surrounding surgery tools and equipment and avoiding or strongly reducing the need to move the patient in and out of the scanner.
The MROpen’s technology, the superconductive wire in magnesium diboride MgB2, allows high-temperature and cryogen-free superconductivity, which simplifies the OR’s infrastructure and improves safety for both patients and operators, avoiding the risk of explosion due to interaction of helium with medical gases.
The possibility to switch the main magnetic field on and off within minutes at any time also simplifies technical maintenance on all other surgical tools in the operating room.
