Beijing PLA General Hospital treats more than 1,000 neurosurgery patients using VISIUS® Surgical Theatre

iMRI assists in determining if all of tumor is removed

WINNIPEG, Nov. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - IMRIS Inc. (NASDAQ: IMRS; TSX: IM) ("IMRIS" or the "Company") today announced PLA General Hospital in Beijing, China, has surpassed a major milestone of treating more than 1,000 neurosurgery patients using a VISIUS^® Surgical Theatre. PLA General Hospital was the first hospital in China to install a VISIUS Surgical Theatre featuring a ceiling mounted, high-field intraoperative MR (iMRI) in February 2009.

"With the VISIUS Surgical Theatre, we recognized surgical precision enhancement and the ability to improve the extent of resection and reduce re-surgeries in tumor cases without moving the patient," said Dr. Bainian Xu, hospital chief neurosurgeon. "Use of iMRI," he said, "provided us the three M's of operation: maximum removal of lesion, minimum injury to neurologic function, and marvelous patient recovery."

Dr. Xu added, "The percentage of patients with total resection (tumor removal) in our department has been enhanced to 89%, and in 31% of all cases we resected additional tumor after an intraoperative MR scan that would have otherwise been missed." He also said this experience in improved precision is leading to fast developing changes in operational theories and methods for deep-brain, functional area and skull base procedures at their hospital.

The types of neurosurgical procedures included in the 1,000 cases are gliomas, pituitary adenomas, vascular lesions, frameless biopsies, skull-based procedures, metastatic tumor surgeries, epilepsy, and meningiomas.

This past April, Dr. Xiaolei Chen, associate professor of neurosurgery at PLA General Hospital, presented preliminary results of the first randomized clinical trial that studied the resection of low-grade insular glioma using high-field 1.5T iMRI at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) annual meeting. The study results show significantly greater extent of tumor resection, better rates of total resection and better long-term outcomes for the group undergoing surgery with iMRI in a VISIUS Surgical Theatre, compared to the control group without iMRI.

About IMRIS

IMRIS (NASDAQ: IMRS; TSX: IM) is a global leader in providing image guided therapy solutions through its VISIUS Surgical Theatre - a revolutionary, multifunctional surgical environment that provides unmatched intraoperative vision to clinicians to assist in decision making and enhance precision in treatment. VISIUS Surgical Theatres serve the neurosurgical, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular markets and have been selected by leading medical institutions around the world.

SOURCE IMRIS Inc.