Microtherapy Berlin

New Horizons workshop in the open MRI

On Wednesday, the 8th of October 2008, the research group Open MRI offered a hands-on workshop as part of the New Horizons Symposium, Berlin. 15 participants from all over Germany were offered the opportunity to learn puncture and navigation skills in the open MRI. Step, by step, from a simple gel phantom, which allowed the participants to observe navigation and artifact properties of MR-compatible instruments; to a demonstration and instruction session of retrotalar drilling of the talocalcanean joint under MR-fluoroscopy and a MR-navigated laser resection of a liver model, the participants were introduced to a wide spectrum of interventional radiology.

Percutaneous pain therapy of the facet joints and the spinal nerve was also a topic of great interest, since most of the participants were familiar with the therapy under CT-guidance, but were new to MR-navigation techniques. The presentations in between each practice gave insight into theoretical background of each intervention modality and offered a forum for questions and discussion.

The practice highlight of our workshop was a MR-navigated and endoscopically assisted laser resection of a liver model. MR-navigation allowed observation of the organ tissue, while the endoscopy image gave precise image information on the organ surface during laser cutting.

We would like to thank all participants and the representatives of Philips Medical Systems for their great interest and participation.

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