New MRI-guided Biopsy for Brain Cancer

Neurosurgeons at UC San Diego Heath System have, for the first time, combined real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology with novel non-invasive cellular mapping techniques to develop a new biopsy approach that increases the accuracy of diagnosis for patients with brain cancer. The team, led by Clark C. Chen, MD, PhD, vice-chairman of research, division of neurosurgery, UC San Diego School of Medicine, applied an MRI technique called Restriction Spectrum Imaging (RSI) to visualize the parts of the brain tumor that contain different cell densities. To ensure a targeted biopsy, Chen performs the procedure in the MRI suite while the patient is under general anesthesia, using a special MRI-compatible system called ClearPoint. This system utilizes an integrated set of hardware, software and surgical equipment to allow the surgeon to target and visualize the path of the biopsy as well as the actual biopsy site, intraoperatively. To learn more about the process, click here.