New Technology Enables Option for Neurosurgeons to Avoid Pinning Patients' Heads for Brain Surgery

INDIANAPOLIS, March 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Medical device innovator NICO Corporation is the first and only provider to offer an adapter for electromagnetic navigation (EM) when performing minimally invasive parafascicular surgery (MIPS), giving neurosurgeons the choice for a frameless brain surgery procedure. This means appropriate patients will no longer have to be pinned in a rigid headframe during the navigation process – providing a more compassionate minimally invasive surgery option.

The BrainPath® Navigation Probe Adapter for Medtronic^® StealthStation^™ EM is used with specific navigation pointers during MIPS procedures using BrainPath. This technology further differentiates NICO's platform solution to provide surgeons more choices and efficiencies in the operating room based on what is needed for each patient.

"The simple and easy operating room set-up with frameless stereotaxy and BrainPath helps us get the patient treated in a safe, fast and efficient way," said Justin Singer, MD, neurosurgeon and director of the Vascular Neurosurgery program at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids. "I have found this to be a great option for patients where pinning would not be indicated for subcortical tumor removal and beneficial in treating emergent hemorrhagic stroke patients."

NICO introduced the BrainPath Navigation Probe Adapter at the recent International Stroke Conference in New Orleans. The adapter is a sterile, single-use accessory that secures the position of the EM pointer during BrainPath cannulation. BrainPath is part of an integrated platform system for brain surgery that did not previously exist – providing safe subcortical access to all regions of the brain, automated removal of brain abnormalities, and simultaneous biological preservation of collected tissue for use in the delivery of novel therapeutics and potential implantation to the brain.

In its limited market evaluations of more than 20 cases, surgeons reported the Navigation Probe Adapter as ideal for emergent intracerebral hemorrhages (ICH), traumatic ICH and subcortical tumors, citing seamless integration in the operating room and workflow efficiencies.

"This small, but important tool is simplifying the OR workflow process for surgeons performing BrainPath procedures," said Paul Sandefer, Vice President of Clinical for NICO Corporation. "I have also observed the benefits of BrainPath with EM navigation during the treatment of traumatic ICH patients with skull fractures, which are difficult to pin, and with patients experiencing blood pressure spikes due to pinning. EM navigation helps avoid these spikes often associated with pinning patients in a head-frame."

NICO Corporation is the first company to develop and patent technologies to create an entirely new minimally invasive surgical market in neurosurgery that offers less invasive and less disruptive brain surgery for subcortical and skull base lesions, including hemorrhagic stroke – the most costly, deadly and debilitating form of stroke with no surgical solution to date. It is an evidence- and outcomes-based company dedicated to enabling new surgical options for brain abnormalities – many that may have previously been considered inoperable – and the ability to create access for direct delivery of novel therapeutics for the emerging world of brain implants.

Learn about NICO technologies at NICOneuro.com; follow news updates on LinkedIn and Twitter, and view surgical and patient videos on YouTube at NICOneuroCorp.

Contact: Sue Goin 
[email protected]
317.402.8690

SOURCE NICO Corporation