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Neurognostics will be installing their functional MR imaging (fMRI) system at Hoag Hospital in Pasadena, CA and North Shore-LIJ Health System in New York. Neurognostics, a Milwaukee-based medical imaging company, will be installing their functional MR imaging (fMRI) system at Hoag Hospital in Pasadena, CA and North Shore-LIJ Health System in New York. These world-renowned facilities will utilize Neurognostics' fMRI system in clinical and research settings.

Functional MRI is a revolutionary technology that allows physicians to locate brain function in the context of performing particular perceptual, cognitive, and/or sensorimotor tasks. Along with a variety of Central Nervous System (CNS) research applications, clinicians are increasingly using fMRI to assist with neurosurgical planning. With the ability to integrate processed fMRI images into leading neuronavigation systems, Neurognostics provides physicians with the increased freedom to view functional brain images both in advance of the surgery and within the operating room.

"fMRI has tremendous potential to improve patient care within the North Shore-LIJ Health System," says Dr. Michael Schulder, Director of the Harvey Cushing Brain Tumor Institute and Vice-Chairman of Neurosurgery at North Shore University Hospital. "Neurognostics' fMRI system will standardize our ability to identify areas of functional activity prior to performing surgical resections. Their ability to import fMRI images into our neuronavigation systems, including intraoperative MRI, is essential when applying fMRI to the clinical setting in order to improve patient outcomes. We plan to study the clinical application of these paradigms and compare them to other, more labor intensive methods of acquiring fMRI."

In addition to providing these institutions with data acquisition hardware and workflow software, Neurognostics fMRI system also includes an extensive library of stimulation paradigms that are designed to map a variety of cognitive and motor functions, including memory, reasoning, language, and perceptual abilities.

"We will be using Neurognostics' fMRI system extensively for both research and clinical applications," says Dr. Michael Brant-Zawadzki, Medical Director of Radiology at Hoag Memorial Hospital. "By utilizing Neurognostics' in-depth library of paradigms, and forming a collaborative relationship to develop disorder-specific tasks (paradigms) for our research use, we plan on taking full advantage of our advanced fMRI capabilities. We hope to replace WADA testing in our patients' work-up for temporal lobe resection, and better guide brain tumor resection."

Both Hoag Memorial Hospital and the 15 hospital North Shore-LIJ Health System have dedicated neuroscience institutes that offer prevention, diagnosis, management, and treatment for brain tumors, epilepsy, stroke, and neurodegenerative disorders. "We are very pleased to form relationships with two of the nation's foremost neuroscience centers," says Dr. Catherine Elsinger, Neurognostics Vice President of Research and Clinical Operations. "We hope that these partnerships will broaden the use of clinical fMRI technology and lead to breakthroughs in the evaluation and management of many debilitating CNS disorders.