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MU Veterinary Surgeons use advanced MRI technology to locate dangerous tumor
Apr 18, 2012
This story gets at the heart of the One Health/One initiative, as it highlights how medical techniques used on humans can also be used on animals, and vice versa.
From MU News Bureau
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Using a special piece of MRI equipment, doctors from the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine were able to remove a dangerous tumor from a beloved pet and therapy dog. Callie, an eight-year-old English Setter, began developing symptoms just a few days before being diagnosed with a tumor on her brain. Callie’s owner was referred to the neurological experts at MU, who performed a complicated procedure to remove the tumor from Callie’s brain.
Using high-tech surgical equipment called the Brainsight MR frameless neuro-navigation device, MU surgeons were able to take an MRI of Callie’s brain and create a 3D model. The 3D model allowed the MRI to guide the doctors to exactly where their instruments needed to go to remove as much of Callie’s tumor as possible. Fred Wininger, an assistant professor of neurology and neurosurgery at the MU College of Veterinary Medicine, says only three or four other veterinary schools in the country have access to this kind of equipment. He believes the equipment was a crucial part of Callie’s successful surgery.
“This surgery would likely have been less successful if we didn’t have this equipment,” Wininger said. “We would have been unable to identify the tumor in its entirety because it was covered in normal brain tissue. This equipment not only assists in open surgeries like Callie’s, but allows us to pinpoint any region of the brain with extreme accuracy, allowing us to perform biopsies through a hole the size of a pencil.” More…