Now In Place, New Intra-Op MRI Proves its Worth

Craniopharyngiomas let neurosurgeons get too well acquainted with their patients. Though slow growing, the tumors finger into tissue near the hypothalamus and the skull's sella turcica, the bony niche that houses the pituitary gland. That makes clean removal difficult. As tumors spread, second or third surgeries aren't uncommon.

But at Hopkins a new MRI-a compact, operating-room version of the imaging device-is shifting craniopharyngioma outcomes, and that of other tumors such as low-grade gliomas, to patients' favor. The device essentially delineates what needs removing. "Our intraoperative MRI's been in use less than half a year," says neurosurgeon Alessandro Olivi, M.D., "but we already see tumor removal is far more thorough.

Take the story of Steve Brooks, 42, a recent patient of Olivi's. Three years ago, the husband and father had become leaden with fatigue. Endocrinologists at his local medical center said he had low thyroid hormone. "I did," Brooks says, "but nothing seemed to correct it."
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