fMRI Data Supports Safer Brain Surgery

A recent report published by Duke University Medical Center demonstrated how functional MRI (fMRI) could enhance safety in brain tumor surgery, by highlighting motor and language areas of the brain and lessen the possibility of damaging healthy tissue.
In a study that included 39 patients with operable brain tumors, researchers discovered that, ‘[i]n patients who underwent fMRI, neurosurgeons estimated that more tumor was removed at surgery, operations were shorter and skull incisions were smaller, compared with what they would have had if the fMRI data were not available,” said Dr. Jeffrey R. Petrella, associate professor of Radiology in Duke's Neuroradiology Division.