Brain Surgery (Neurosurgery)

Advances in medical imaging have transformed the neurosurgical speciality over recent years. Surgeons are now able to locate anatomical and functional lesions with great accuracy, and to carry out procedures that were unimaginable to previous generations.

The challenge remains however: how to accurately, reliably and simply translate the rich detail of today’s surgical planning onto the anatomical reality encountered in the operating room. Prosurgics is working with surgeons to address this challenge and so provide improved outcomes for their patients.

Our PathFinder image-guided neurosurgical localiser is now coming into use at leading brain surgery centres. Surgeons use this system to perform very accurate surgery, often to areas that are deep within the brain (a procedure called stereotaxy, or stereotactic surgery). Conventionally, such surgery requires a metal frame to be bolted onto the skull in order to guide the instruments. Using PathFinder it is no longer necessary to fit this frame, which can make the operation faster and less unpleasant. The great accuracy of this system is likely to result in surgeons being able to obtain better results treating some debilitating conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease. Its speed and ease of use are also expected to reduce the time taken to perform operations and the time necessary for patients to remain in hospital.