fMRI found helpful with brain surgery

MIAMI, Jun 28, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- A study finds that functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain provides a road map for surgeons before they operate on seizure patients.

Dr. Santiago Medina, of the Health Outcomes, Policy and Economics Center at Miami Children's Hospital, studied how fMRI was used in the cases of 60 patients diagnosed with recurrent seizures, the condition commonly known as epilepsy.

Five of the patients were able to avoid two-stage surgery because of fMRI. In another four cases, surgeons changed plans after finding that the area where they were going to operate was too close to an area of critical brain function.

Medina also found that 63 percent of the patients were able to avoid expensive and intrusive diagnostic tests.

The study was published in the July issue of Radiology, journal of the Radiological Society of North America.