Nerve research may make surgery faster and safer
A new imaging technique that lets physicians see nerves in the human body may be the solution to that chronic back pain you’ve been complaining about.
Called MR (magnetic resonance) neurography, it works by manipulating radio wave frequencies and magnetic fields so that other tissues, normally part of a magnetic resonance image, disappear and leave only the nerves in view. “In a way it’s like the smile of the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland,” says Dr. Aaron Filler, lead author on the research study.
This journey into the wonderland of medicine promises better diagnosis of chronic pain conditions that elude physicians today. It also holds promise for making surgery faster and safer. Right now, surgeons often spend considerable operating time avoiding and protecting nerves. MR neurography may be able to provide a three-dimensional “map” that will let them thread delicate probes through that vital network.
Filler believes that relatively inexpensive changes to software on existing scanners will permit wide use of the technique in diagnosing and curing nerve-related injuries and disabilities.