[Perspectives of virtual control of visceral surgery interventions in open MRI]

Since July 1997 we have operated on 23 patients with different visceral surgical diagnoses in an open-configured Magnetic Resonance System (MRI). Among them we found 7 patients with benign soft tissue tumors, 5 patients with anal fistulas, 1 patient with an abscess on the pelvic wall, 1 patient with a rectocele, 1 patient with an inoperable, restrictive oesophageal carcinoma, and 8 patients with metastatic lesions in the liver. In the last 8 patients we performed MRI-guided laser-induced interstitial thermotherapy, in one patient in an open development. We did not face any postoperative complications. The median duration of the intervention was 2 hours, pre- and postscans included. Our experiences show that it is possible to carry out visceral surgical interventions in the open-configured MRI. The main indications we see now are anal fistulas, soft tissue tumors and MRI-guided laser-induced interstitial thermotherapy of liver metastases.