Live MRI brain imaging boosts surgical options

MIT Technology Review profiles live MRI imaging technology, an advance that's helping to visualize the brain in new ways during neurosurgery. As the article explains, the advance is opening doors to some procedures that had been really difficult or off limits. Robert Gross, an Emory University neurosurgeon, said in the story that a live MRI machine made by Tennessee-based MRI Interventions is a real game changer. But Medtronic ($MDT) is among competitors that also make real-time MRI imaging machines for use during neurosurgery. Why would real-time MRI be necessary? That's because, as the story notes, MRIs typically are used to plan the path of a neurological operation based, in part, on the brain's position relative to a guidance frame screwed onto the patient's skull. But the brain can shift before surgery even starts, making the advanced MRI inaccurate. Story