7 Healthcast: Streaming surgery

Children's Hospital Boston is the first hospital in the world to have an MRI machine in the operating room called the MROR. It lets doctors look at the tumor before, during and after surgery something that wasn't possible before.

You're watching a webcast of brain surgery on a 13-year-old boy. Doctors at Children's Hospital are removing a brain tumor. They're letting other healthcare providers and families around the world get a look at this surgery that's using breakthrough technology. An intraoperative MRI machine that can be used anytime during surgery to let surgeons know if they've removed all of the tumor.

"Certain tumors it's hard to distinguish from normal surrounding brain so you're at risk of not taking out all of the tumor or taking out normal brain when all you want is to take the tumor so having imaging helps us with that," Pediatric neurosurgeon Mark Proctor says.

Dr. Proctor says with traditional surgery doctors have to use their judgement to determine if they've removed all the tumor and the patient has an MRI after surgery.

"In about 10 to 15 percent of the cases you'll find out you've missed some of the tumor and that child would have to go back to the operating room, with this technology we never have to go back to the OR," Dr. Proctor says.

In addition to tumors, the intraoperative MRI can be used in other surgeries such as certain vascular conditions, head and neck operations and some orthopedic surgeries.

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