Intraoperative MRI Scanner

With your help, we’ve been able to provide £750,000 of funding towards the installation of an Intraoperative MRI Scanner to the University of Nottingham. The Intraoperative MRI Scanner was delivered in October 2020 and was officially unveiled on Wednesday 9 December 2020, at a virtual launch event hosted by Nottingham Hospitals Charity and the University of Nottingham.

About the Intraoperative MRI Scanner

Child friendly, plus better results and fewer operations

This new Intraoperative MRI Scanner not only has the potential to improve the results of surgery, but also to reduce the number of times a child has to have surgery. MRI scanning is a very accurate way of assessing brain tumours. However, normal MRI scanning can only be done before and after surgery, making it difficult to know how successful the tumour removal has been until the surgery is over. This new Intraoperative MRI Scanner will allow surgeons to see MRI scans during surgery and see clearly how much of the tumour they have removed, and whether any is left behind. So the scanner has the potential to greatly improve the outcomes of surgery, and reduce the number of surgeries a child has to have. With your help, we provided £750,000 of funding towards the installation of the Intraoperative MRI Scanner to the University of Nottingham. This award is in partnership with the Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre at the University of Nottingham, the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and the Nottingham Hospitals Charity. The total cost of the project is £6,297,000.

Watch our short video to see how child friendly this scanner is.

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The benefits of this new Intraoperative MRI Scanner

Cliff O’Gorman,  CEO of Children with Cancer UK, said:
We were delighted to provide funding of £750,000 as part of the University of Nottingham’s fundraising campaign. The installation of the state-of-the-art, child-friendly iMRI scanning facilities will help to revolutionise treatment and boost survival rates for children being treated for brain tumours at Nottingham Children’s Hospital.
Donald Macarthur, Paediatric Neurosurgeon at the Nottingham Children’s Hospital, explained:
We’re delighted to be able to officially unveil this fantastic new facility, which will make a huge difference to surgeons, patients and families. Being able to scan patients during surgery, while they are still under general anaesthetic, means we will be able to see any small pieces of tumour that may be remaining, and remove them while still in the operating theatre. “This will reduce the likelihood of patients needing further surgery, as well as reducing the anxiety and stress for parents and carers who currently have to wait for post-operative scans to determine whether further surgery is needed. It really will transform the treatment that we are able to offer our young brain tumour patients from across the region.

Introducing the child to a mini version of the scanner

The child is invited to choose a toy animal and to put it into the Mini MRI Scanner. The child will also be shown an image of what’s inside the toy to help them understand what the scan is for. With this gentle introduction in the calm, child-only surroundings, the child is less likely to feel anxious or need a general anaesthetic.
Watch our short video to see how child friendly this scanner is.
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