Intraoperative high field magnetic resonance imaging in neurosurgery: our initial experience with the brain suite

We present our initial experience with the high field (1.5T) intra-operative magnetic resonance imaging, the operating room set-up, our initial cases, the difficulties we faced and how this tool affected a change in the surgical strategy intra-operatively and finally our results. 11 patients were operated on from June 1st to August 1st 2006 of which there were astrocytomas (7), pituitary adenoma (1), craniopharyngioma (1) and meningiomas (2) Localization and lesion targeting were accurate, intra-operative imaging helped to assess the resection volumes, enable corrections for brain shift, perform further tumor resection at the same sitting and help preserve eloquent cortical areas. Gliomas formed 63.6% of the tumors operated on and in 71.4% of these, our surgical strategy changed intra-operatively. Meningiomas formed 9.1% of the tumors operated and image guidance enabled a minimally invasive approach, although no change in our surgical plan was required. One pituitary adenoma and a craniopharyngioma were also operated on with good outcome.