August marked the one-year anniversary of the first procedures performed in the Advanced Multimodality Image Guided Operating Suite (AMIGO) at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. It is the first operating room and interventional suite to provide real-time intra-procedural guidance via MRI, PET/CT, ultrasound, x-ray fluoroscopy and angiography. The integration of the various modalities allows for a wide range of procedures, including neurosurgery, interventional oncology, cardiac ablations and more. Described as a laboratory by staff, the AMIGO suite enables physicians and researchers to introduce and share newly developed procedures. Presented in Health Imaging Magazine. http://www.healthimaging.com . See it in the October digital edition http://digital.trimedmedia.com/healthimaging/2012/septoct/

1. Advanced Multimodality Image Guided Operating Suite (AMIGO)
at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

2. A 40-slice dual PET/CT scanner sits in a room flanking the main
operating room.

3. A spectroscopy system aids in the detection of brain injury and
lung tumors, among other conditions.

4. Christine Morello, RT(R), a radiologic technologist, repositions the
operating table.

5. The ceiling- mounted 3T MRI scanner can be rolled between the
operating or MRI rooms as needed.

6. The operating table is oriented to deliver the patient to the
PET/CT scanner.

7. William Sticka, CNMT, a nuclear medicine technologist, looks at a
monitor in the control room.