November 5, 2009
For Immediate Release

Sacred Heart Hospital named
BrainLAB “Demonstration Site”
for Neurosurgery

Eau Claire, Wis., - Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire joins the elite ranks of nationally-renowned hospitals such as MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and Abbott Northwestern in Minneapolis by earning the unique designation as a BrainLAB “Demonstration Site” for brain and spine surgery.

Only eight BrainLAB Demonstration Sites exist in the US, and 14 exist outside of the US.

As a BrainLAB Demonstration Site, Sacred Heart Hospital will show to visitors from other hospitals around the world how BrainLAB technology is being put to use during actual surgery cases –  enabling Sacred Heart Hospital to showcase its unique intra-operative scanning capabilities and surgical procedures to hospital practitioners across the globe.

“This is an amazing opportunity for us to demonstrate our hospital’s unique clinical capabilities and practices to a wide range of medical professionals throughout the US and the world,” said Kamal Thapar, MD, PhD, FRCS(C), a Marshfield Clinic neurosurgeon and Director of the Brain & Spine Institute at Sacred Heart Hospital.

Sacred Heart Hospital employs both BrainSUITE^Ò iMRI and iCT technologies from BrainLAB in the hospital’s intra-operative MRI Smart OR® surgical suite for brain surgery, as well as in its intra-operative CT Smart OR® for spine and trauma surgeries.

BrainLAB is headquartered in Munich, Germany and develops, manufactures and markets software-driven, image-guided surgical technology.

”Sacred Heart Hospital is a remarkable institution and we commend Dr. Thapar and his team for their dedication to providing state-of-the-art neurosurgical care,” said Paolo Jelmoni, Director West, BrainLAB Inc. “We look forward to bringing clinicians from around the world to Sacred Heart to demonstrate how BrainLAB technology supports a comprehensive neurosurgery program.”

Sacred Heart Hospital is one of only a select handful in the country to have both intra-operative MRI and intra-operative CT surgical suites, giving the hospital a distinct perspective from which others around the world can learn.

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Sacred Heart Hospital is an affiliate of the Hospital Sisters Health System. Since 1889 it has been meeting patient needs in western Wisconsin with the latest medical innovations and technology, together with a Franciscan whole-person healing tradition.