Neurosciences

Mercy Medical Center has installed a Stryker image-guided system that promises to make many brain surgeries faster, safer and more effective. The system is the most technologically advanced of its kind in the Sioux City area.

Stryker image-guided technology (right) for neurological surgery uses infrared optics, unique tracking software and interactive displays to guide surgeons and their instruments through the delicate anatomy of the brain. Image-guided technology provides accurate information on the relative position of instruments, healthy anatomy and surgical targets. And it leads to improved patient outcomes.

Image-guided neurological surgery begins with CT or MRI brain scans that show the patient's brain anatomy and reveal the location and extent of the abnormality. Scans are then loaded into a computer that constructs a virtual 3-D model of the patient's head. Surgeons then identify "landmarks" that can be registered with the patient's real anatomy and determine the size of incision and the angle and depth of entry into the brain.

During surgery, an infrared camera "sees" infrared sensors mounted on the patient and the instruments and continuously feeds their location coordinates to a computer for display on monitors. Tracking software compensates for patient movement, continuously calculating and displaying the location of the surgical instruments relative to the patient's anatomy. Another exceptional feature of the Stryker image-guided system is its ability to be used not only in neurosurgery, but also in eye, ear, nose, throat, spine, and orthopedic procedures.

Image-guided technology is used in many of the more than 300 neurosurgical procedures performed each year at Mercy Medical Center. These include craniotomies for tumor, resection and biopsies, trauma, aneurysm, vascular lesion and seizures. It is also used during brain biopsies and surgery to insert catheters or electrodes into the brain, such as deep brain stimulators used to treat Parkinson disease.

Link to neurologists and neurosurgeons:
Center for Neurosciences, Orthopaedics & Spine P.C.