We are proud to be the first and only veterinary hospital in Southern California to offer stereotactic brain biopsy (neuro-navigation). This is a minimally invasive procedure to obtain brain and spinal biopsies and aid in more accurate and optimal brain surgeries such as tumor removal. This exciting and advanced technology that is commonly used in people, now will be available for pets for the first time in Southern California.
If you would like to learn more about stereotactic neuronavigation and how it can possibly help your pet, give us a call! Our veterinary neurologist is happy to answer any questions. BrightCare Animal Neurology is a veterinary neurological center based in Orange County that is dedicated to the veterinary profession. We work to continually, learn, educate, and treat our patients with the best veterinary practices in the community. For veterinary emergencies, please head to our emergency vet department.
What is stereotactic neuronavigation?
Stereotactic neuronavigation is an image-guided system that gives the veterinary surgeon real-time intraoperative guidance during operations. Using stereotactic neuronavigation results in more flexibility and control, which are both essential for complicated spinal and brain surgeries. This system limits the size of the bone opening to safely operate during cranial surgeries and biopsies for tumors, cysts, and the like. The ability to increase accuracy and safety in neurosurgery has helped improve the success rate of typically risky procedures.
Why is stereotactic neuronavigation necessary?
In our effort to offer the very best to our patients, we now bring this advanced technology for veterinary neurosurgical applications. With Stereotactic Neuronavigation we Necan accurately perform many minimally invasive neurosurgical procedures:
- MRI-guided minimally invasive brain and spine biopsies
- Minimally invasive Cyst aspirations
- Minimally invasive cranial surgery (keyhole surgery)
- Surgical tool tracking in real-time, including implants around the spinal column
- Accurate targeting of chemoagents (injections, CEDs, etc).
- New implantable DBS devices for intractable epilepsy.
- Completion of complicated procedures (hypophysectomy targeting)
How does this technology work?
Stereotactic neuronavigation increases the accuracy and safety in neurosurgery, which has helped improve the success rate of typically risky procedures. Open surgery on sensitive areas of the body, like the brain and spine, can be difficult and dangerous. The stereotactic apparatus uses markers that project images of the brain or spine to a screen. This allows surgeons to see exactly where and how to conduct the surgery. For biopsies, the stereotactic device is fixed and a probe is placed through a hole in the skull to sample tissue.
Similar neurosurgical technology is seen in human frameless neuronavigation systems. These systems are used to guide surgical targets and localize tumors. Stereotactic neuronavigation, however, is the only 3D neurosurgical system that focuses specifically on helping animals. As we mentioned above, it’s most commonly used to navigate tumor removals or perform biopsies for accurate, less invasive diagnosis.
