Microtherapy Berlin

Besuch des ESMRMB 2011 in Leipzig

fg — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 15:22:29 +0000

Knapp ein Jahr nach unserem letzten Besuch in Leipzig (zum damals 8. Interventional MRI Symposium) sind wir gestern zum ESMRMB 2011 wieder in “Klein-Paris” eingetroffen. Felix Güttler, Peter Krauß und Andreas Heinrich präsentieren aktuelle Themen der AG in fünf Beiträgen. Der ESMRMB findet in den Räumen des Congress Center Leipzig (CCL) statt.

World premiere: Birth in the open MRI

fg — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 07:41:32 +0000

After two years of preparations, the first birth was imaged in the open MRI on November 20th 2010. The birth itself was fast and free of complications. The newborn in the uterus and the emergence of the head were recorded during the 40min birth with cine imaging. Even the expulsion after birth was imaged. The success of this endeavor is owed to the good cooperation between radiologists, engineers, physicists, technical assistants and obstetricians.

The study groups main focus during this interdisciplinary project were mainly technical and radiological aspects. The study group open MRI developed an MR-compatible fetal heart monitor, to montior the child during birth. A wireless transducer system (Philips Avalon CTS) served as a basis, and was modified to the point that the device could be operated in the MRI with only minor image distortion. Moreover, the adaption of MR-sequences was a key point to ensure successful imaging throughout the birth process.

We would like to thank all of our clinical, technical and scientific staff and partners, without whom this project would not have been possible! And finally we would like to especially thank Philips for providing the transducer systems.

Update:

“The Study Group Open MRI would like to thank all employees for their excellent research and preparation, without which this project would not have been possible. We would like to thank Andreas Heinrich in particular, for his extensive commitment to the entire project and his contribution to the signal filtering system. Further thanks go to Lothar Westhoff for his work on the modified CTG-System. Moreover, we would like to thank Andreas Thomas, Virginia Ding-Reinelt and Kerstin Lehman for their organizational assistance on both the logistical and technical side of the project, as well as sequence optimization. And finally, we would like to thank Dr. Bernhard Schnackenburg (Philips) for his ongoing support of the Study Group Open MRI and Dr. Benedikt Latz (Philip) for supplying the CTG-hardware and his efforts in providing contacts to Philips’ CTG engineers.

We would further like to thank Prof. Bernd Hamm, Dr. Maximilian de Bucourt, Heidi Kotalla und Rosemarie Öhlschläger for their support of our project, as well as our colleagues from the obstetrics department. And last but not least, we would like to thank Peter Krauß, Christian Seebauer, Thula Walter and Simone Battermann for their support with tasks we would have not been able to manage without them, over the course of this project.”

- F. Güttler, J. Rump, U. Teichgräber

RSNA 2010 in Chicago

fg — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 07:47:44 +0000

The 96th international symposium RSNA 2010 of the North American Radiological Society was chaired by Dr. Hedvig Hricak and was themed “Personalized Medicine: Pursuit of Excellence”. The annual meeting in Chigaco was visited by more than 60.000 international scientistis this year. The study group open MRI was represented Ulf Teichgräber, Christian Seebauer and Felix Güttler.

8. Interventional MRI Symposium

fg — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 15:31:20 +0000

This year’s 8th Interventional MRI symposium was held at “The Westin Grand” in Leipzig from the 24th through the 25th of September. The conference is held every second year at alternating locations in Leipzig and Boston or Baltimore. With a total of 18 select themes the symposium covered all relevant aspects of interventional MRI and allowed scientists from various fields and nations to present and discuss their clinical studies. This year’s meeting focussed on MR-guided minimally invasive thermal procedures, which are becoming more and more important in targeted tumor therapy. In eight different sessions the 300 participants presented and exchanged their current findings in the field of clinical intervention practice and were able to discuss the various technical aspects and their personal experiences in the field.

The Charité’s study group open high-field MRI was represented in Leipzig by 10 members presenting a total of 13 scientific posters presentations. We would like to thank the Chairman of the Symposium Thomas Kahn (Institute for diagnostic and interventional Radiology of the University of Leipzig, Ferenc A. Jolesz (Department of Radiology des Brigham and Women’s Hospital der Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA) and Jonathan S. Lewin (Department of Radiology and Radiological Science der Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA) for a successful symposium.

Links:

ISMRM 2010 in Stockholm

fg — Tue, 18 May 2010 11:17:18 +0000

This year’s annual meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine took place in Stockholm. As of May 1st through May 7th, speeches and poster presentations were held and discussed. The study group open MRI was represented by Ulf Teichgräber, Jens Rump, Felix Güttler and Christian Seebauer, who presented the group’s findings and innovations.

The pros and cons of various field strengths and bore configurations of different interventional MRI systems were controversially discussed in the forum of the “Interventional MRI Study Group”. Ulf Teichgräber represented our study group with the open high-field MRI (1 Tesla). His counterparts were Clifford R. Weiss, who represented a 1.5 Tesla system (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA) and Clare Temany, who represented 3 Tesla systems for Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Boston, MA, USA).

The 2009 RealTI workshop group was also represented by Jouke Smink (Philips Scientific, Best, Netherlands) and Yasmina Berber (IMF CNRS, Universite Victor Segalen Bordeaux, France), who had organized a follow-up conference, where innovations and further developments of RealTI were presented.

Links:

Ms Almuth Nehring-Venus visits the open MRI

fg — Tue, 18 May 2010 10:22:16 +0000

With great interest for the scientific developments and the economic impulses of these innovations for our project partners in Berlin, the state secretary Almuth Nehring-Venus (Senate department for economy, technology and women) paid the open MRI and the study group a visit. Especially those projects funded by the Berlin Zukunftsfonds were discussed. Moreover, positive economic and scientific effects of the project on the health infrastructure of Berlin were elaborated.

The scientific and economic success of the completed sub-projects is primarily attributable to their interdisciplinary structure and the highly efficient cooperation between the specialized small local business partners and the University of Berlin’s research facilities.

Links

Senate department for economy, technology and women
Zukunftsfond Berlin – Technological Foundation Berlin

Announcement CARS 2010

fg — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:31:30 +0000

The CARS congress with its associated journal is a facilitator of innovation and an important contributor to modern medicine on a worldwide basis. Founded in 1985, CARS with its focus on research and development for computer assisted systems and their applications in radiology and surgery has played a leading role in medical informatics for 25 years. Its growth and impact is due to CARS’s close collaboration with the ISCAS, EuroPACS, CAR, CAD and CMI societies. Following the long term successful cooperation, they will jointly hold their annual meetings with CARS in Geneva in 2010.

The deadline for paper and abstract submissions for CARS 2010 in Geneva is January 11, 2010.

Links:

RSNA 2009 Sets a New Record

fg — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:16:56 +0000

As of November 9, the 2009 annual meeting saw the highest number of registered professionals ever, surpassing 2008 – which set a record for overall professionals – and 2007 – which set a record for overall attendance. In addition, 2009 is the 5th consecutive year in which the RSNA annual meeting technical exhibition has exceeded 700 exhibitors and net square feet of exhibit space remains well above current industry forecasts. Overall attendance for RSNA 2009 is expected to be about 60,000. Final, audited attendance numbers will be available in January 2010.

The study group contributed six presentations at the RSNA 2009 and accounts 1/15000 of the overall audience.

Abstract submission for RSNA 2010 (November 28 – December 3, McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois) begins in mid-January. Member registration and housing open April 28.

Links:

Announcement – 91st Roentgenologic Congress

fg — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:24:12 +0000

Prof. Dr. Walter Gross-Fengels (congress president 2010) will be hosting the 2010 91st German Roentgenologic Congress in Berlin. Applications will be possible, starting Feburary 2010.

Current scientific presentations will be held to illustrate the proliferative and innovative field of the subject. The congress will focus on thoracic and vascular diagnostics and radiological interventions. A patient day on vascular diseases will be held to introduce and explain the topic to afflicted and interested patients. Furthermore, the course “Fit for Specialization” will be offered as well.

The 91st roentgenologic congress partners 2010 are: the German society of vascular surgery (DGG), the German society for angiology (DAG), the European Scociety of Cardiovascular Radiology (CIRSE) and thoracic imaging (ESTI).

Links:

Official Website of the German Roentgenologic Congress
Web page of the German Roentgenologic Society

1st International Panorama Symposium

fg — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:39:52 +0000

The Philips Panorama HFO (high-field open) allows diagnostics and applications which are only possible in a conventional tunnel system with considerable restrictions. And thus, the number of installed Panorama Systems is continuously growing. To illustrate the many possible applications of the HFO system, an international Panorama user conference will be held in Berlin on October 6th and 7th this fall. The symposium will offer an opportunity to exchange experiences between the users and shall introduce and inspire new clinical applications. Presentations will be held in English on almost all major fields of MRI diagnostics. The diagnostic part of the program will be completed by the theme “Beyond Diagnostics”. The Charité’s study group “Open High-Field MRI” will also present current research and innovations in the field of interventional procedures in the Panorama. The presentation will be completed by an additional hands-on work shop on the 8th of October. This workshop will offer participants the opportunity to personally experience interventional procedures in the Panorama system. Due to limitation of space, a limitation of 12 participants is neccessary. Applications may be registered in along with accreditation for the symposium until September 1st with your Philips MRI Sales Promotor.

RealTI Workshop in Bordeaux

fg — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:32:18 +0000

On July 2nd and 3rd, the “Imagerie Moléculaire et Fonctionnelle” (IMF) Center of the University of Bordeaux organized a work shop on the application of the programming interface (API) of the open MRI’s console in cooperation with Philips Healthcare. The API, which is widely based on OpenSource is continuously updated and allows scientific research groups – such as the study group Open HighField MRI – to realize projects involving automatized MR-controlling or further image processing.

Apart from scientific presentations, the attending scientists were able to discuss any practical issues with the developers. Further, hands-on exercises of what was learned in the morning were offered to the participants during the afternoons. All in all, the work shop was a great success. We would like to thank all speakers and the IMF and Philips Healthcare for organizing this event.

10th laser ablation of an osteid osteoma

fg — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:30:43 +0000

One year after the first MR-guided Laser ablation of an osteid osteoma at the Charité Berlin (Link), the method is now established in clinical routine. In the last 12 months, a total of 10 ablations of osteid osteomas have been performed in the open MRI of the Charité Mitte. Especially young patients benefit from the radiation-free treatment method and an in-patient stay of merely 24-48h. All treated patients are now free of pain symptoms.

For the 10th ablation, a new OR set-up of the open MRI, which is currently being developed, could be applied. An additional, larger real-time monitor and an MR-compatible beamer and thermometric monitoring of the procedure with color coded temperature maps and a control monitor directly adjacent to the patient are part of this new set-up.

The osteid osteoma is a benign bone tumor, which effects three times more men than women and typically occurs between the ages of ten and thirty. The OO is a sclerotic tumor of the long bones of the extremities. The tumor is characteristically painful at night and the occurring pain responds well NSAIDs, such as Asprin. The pain itself is caused by the well vascularized tumor nidus, which induces the surrounding sclerosis.

Image-guided tumor ablation is an effective and safe, minimally invasive treatment method in the therapy of OO, which has replaced the open resection approach in many hospitals. Compared to the open resection of the tumor, the minimally invasive approach helps reduce morbidity and reconvalescence. The open MRI offers several technical advantages when compared to CT-guided therapies; MRI allows MR-thermometric monitoring and is performed without the use of ionizing radiation. Only in certain cases, when the tumor is in a difficult location is it, that the open surgical approach is still the method of choice.

Long Night of Siences 2009

fg — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:20:37 +0000

This year, long night of sciences took place for the 9th time in Berlin and Potsdam. The Charité was able to increase its visitor numbers to approximately twice the amount of last year .

With three tours of the open high field MRI, the study group “High-field Open MRI”‘s radiologists gave an introduction to how operations are performed in the open MRI. The 50 visitors were given a playful insight into scientific research.

We would like to thank our many visitors who came to see our 67 institutions and showed their interest in our research. We looking forward to welcoming you to the next long night sciences on June 5th 2010.

23rd Meeting on Medical Engineering in Berlin

fg — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:52:17 +0000

With this meeting the TSB Medici is offering an open platform for clinicians, scientists and professionals (see also announcement). Speeches, a poster presentation and an exhibition are part of the convention. Annually, about 200 participants from a diverse spectrum of scientific and economic fields take the opportunity to come together and exchange ideas. Physicians, medical scientists, physicists, IT-specialists, molecular biologists, biochemists, and experts in microsystems and nanotechnogy will be present.

A. Roggan PhD (Celon AG medical instruments) and U. Teichgräber MD, MBA (Charité – Study group Open MRI) will be moderating the afternoon session from 2pm to 5.30pm. Furthermore, the study group Open MRI is participating with presentations and speeches concerning Laser induced Thermotherapy (LITT) in the open high-field MRI and MR-guided Thermoablation in the open high-field MRI.

Bionnale 2009

fg — Mon, 11 May 2009 08:31:31 +0000

This April from the 28th until the 30th, the BioTOP Berlin-Brandenburg held the so called Bionnle 2009 at the Langenbeck-Virchow house (in the vicinity of the Charité Campus Mitte). The Bionnale is an established biotechonological convention of the state of Berlin-Brandenburg. Each year aproximately 500 guests – scientists, economists, politicians are invited. As part of the Bionnale the first Students Bionnale – “Discover and explore science” – was held for the first time this year.

The study group Open MRI was also represented at the students’ Bionnale and presented a compact endoscope and camera system in cooperation with W.O.M and MGB. After a short introduction, the visitors were able to become interventionalists in a mock-OR setting and practice minimally invasive instrumentation under endoscopic guidance.