MRI-guided laser kills brain tumors without opening a patient’s skull

A new laser system guided by magnetic resonance imaging – known popularly as an MRI – will allow brain surgery on a conscious patient without radiation while leaving the skull intact.

The system should become widely available following its acquisition by the global medical device company Medtronic, Inc. from Visualase Inc., a company co-founded by a biomedical engineering professor from Texas A&M University, Gerard Coté.

The technology allows surgeons to pinpoint and destroy brain tumors and lesions with extreme precision, and is a much less-invasive alternative to conventional surgery that requires surgeons to open up the skull.

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