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New Brain Mapping Technology at Florida Hospital for Children Creates “Roadmap” to Neurological Disorders

MEG (Magnetoencephalography) is the first non-invasive functional brain imaging technology in the state of Florida

Patients in the state of Florida will now have access to incisionless brain mapping that will precisely target irregularities due to epilepsy and other lesions. The only one in the state, Magnetoencephalography, or MEG (www.FloridaHospitalForChildren.com/MEG), provides a personalized “roadmap” of the brain. This allows clinicians to map an individual’s brain and identify where different critical areas such as sensory, motor, or language cortexes are specifically located and how they are working since it can be slightly different for each individual.

“The MEG allows clinicians and scientists to track moment-to-moment brain activity at the millisecond time scale or better,” said Eduardo M. Castillo, Ph.D., director of the MEG Program at Florida Hospital. “The fact that MEG technology is completely safe and non-invasive is particularly important for clinical evaluations and will be especially important in research involving special populations, like epileptic patients and young children.”

The MEG is an extremely sensitive instrument that measures very faint magnetic fields produced by electrical neuronal activity. MEG-derived information allows physicians to gain more detailed information about brain function. Its combination of being able to locate where in the brain and when in the brain helps to characterize rapid events occurring and pinpoints the responsible areas or structures.

The MEG will also assist physicians in performing highly targeted operations and planning the best treatment options for each patient.

“The MEG provides complementary information to all the technologies we also use in treating neurological disorders, including epilepsy,” said Dr. Ki Hyeong Lee, medical director of the Comprehensive Pediatric Epilepsy Center at Florida Hospital for Children. “Most importantly for many of the patients at the Epilepsy Center, it provides accurate 3 dimensional location of seizure focus. This tool will give us the best picture possible prior to a patient undergoing surgery.”

The MEG program developed by Florida Hospital is the first neuro-imaging program of its kind in the state of Florida, adding new capabilities to the already outstanding team of neurologists, neurosurgeons and neuroscientists.

“As a mom, I am so happy to know that Florida Hospital now offers this option to families,” said Leslee Bell, mom to 12-year-old Lauren Bell who recently underwent brain surgery in January 2013. “We are so grateful to the team at Florida Hospital for Children for everything they did to help Lauren. This is one more tool that could help families like ours and I think people will travel to come here for this.”

For more information, or to book an appointment, please call 407 303 KIDS (5437) or visit FloridaHospitalforChildren.com.

About Florida Hospital

Opened in 1908, Florida Hospital is a faith-based institution focused on providing whole person care. It is one of the largest not-for-profit hospitals in the country, caring for more than a million patient visits per year – that’s more than any other hospital in the country, according to the American Hospital Association. The more than 2,000-bed system is comprised of eight hospitals and 21 Centra Care locations throughout Central Florida. In 2009, Florida Hospital received the Joint Commission’s “Gold Seal of Approval.” Florida Hospital is also a two-time recipient of the Governor’s Sterling Award for performance excellence and has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the best hospitals in the country for the past 10 years. Florida Hospital provides a wide range of health services, including many nationally and internationally recognized programs in cardiology, cancer, women’s medicine, neurosciences, diabetes, orthopedics, pediatrics and advanced surgical programs. The Florida Hospital Neuroscience Institute treats more neurology patients than any other hospital in the nation and features the largest neurosurgery program in Florida.