Inova Fairfax Medical Campus and the Inova Neuroscience Institute is now the first hospital in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. to have Synaptive Medical's BrightMatter Surgical Solution. Only a few other hospitals in the country are using this new technology.

BrightMatter helps surgeons perform complex neurosurgical procedures for brain tumors, aneurysms, vascular lesions and skull-based issues as well as minimally-invasive spine surgeries. It provides them with the patient's unique fiber tracts and detailed views of the surgical field.

The system allows for advanced imaging, planning, navigation and robotic visualization. Surgeons can visualize critical brain pathways in order to plan the best surgical approach and also see lesions deep in the brain that were previously inoperable.
The BrightMatter Plan generates a highly-detailed, 3-D map of the patient's fiber tracts for the entire brain in only a few minutes. The conventional approaches are time-consuming and only provide a limited amount of information.

"During surgery, through the assistance of a camera on a robotic arm, the entire surgical team has an unobstructed view and can track, like a GPS, the surgeon’s tools in the patient’s brain, achieving the safe approach previously planned," Sherrie Van Oss, spokesperson for Synaptive Medical, told HCB News. "Surgeons operate in a more ergonomically friendly environment without the burden of cumbersome equipment."

Synaptive Medical and the Inova Neuroscience Institute have partnered on a research project to optimize their existing systems to develop innovations in the future. Synaptive Medical believes that partnerships with its customers are important for the future of the medical industry because they help fill the gaps where there are unmet needs.

Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit was one of the first facilities in the U.S. to implement BrightMatter in January. One of the surgeons at the hospital referred to the system as a "game-changer" that can perform surgeries that were previously considered inoperable with great outcomes.

At the hospital, BrightMatter is expected to be used for 20 to 30 cases that were previously deemed inoperable as well as provide better care for over one hundred other patients.

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