Venous Thromboembolism during Interventional MRI-Guided Stereotactic Surgery.

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Neurosurgery
• Vascular Surgery

Background:

• Interventional MRI (iMRI) enables real-time guidance for electrode and microcatheter placement.
• MRI-compatible pneumatic compression devices (PCD) for venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk reduction are not commercially available.
• Limited data exists on VTE incidence and patient characteristics following iMRI procedures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the incidence of postoperative VTE in patients undergoing iMRI procedures.
• To assess VTE risk in iMRI surgeries performed without the use of PCD.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective review of medical records and operative times for iMRI procedures.
• Statistical analysis of patient demographics and surgical durations using ANOVA and t-tests.
• In-depth chart review for patients who experienced postoperative VTE.

Main Results:

• A low incidence of postoperative VTE was observed (0.95%, 2 out of 210 procedures).
• Significant differences in procedure times were noted between unilateral electrode, bilateral electrode, and bilateral gene therapy procedures.
• Both VTE cases occurred in procedures with longer-than-average operative times.

Conclusions:

• Postoperative VTE incidence following iMRI procedures is low, even without intraoperative PCD use.
• The findings suggest that current iMRI practices may not necessitate routine PCD use for VTE prevention.