Family grateful for iMRI: 'The technology ... (brought) our baby back'

iMRI allows doctors to check their work during or right after surgery

HOUSTON – Willie and Pleshette Young know raising five kids isn't easy, but nothing could have prepared them for when Willie Jr., 6, got sick.

"Out of nowhere, it was, 'I'm having headaches, dad. I'm having headaches, mom,'" said Willie Young Sr., the boy's father.

A CT scan detected a life-threatening situation. Willie Jr. was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery.

"He had a lot of pressure on his brain from a mass that was growing in the center of his brain," Dr. Toba Niazi said.

Doctors had to remove the tumor right away. It often takes more than one surgery. But now, intra-operative MRI is changing that.

"What this technology does is, it brings MRI imaging -- direct imaging of the brain without radiation -- into the operating room," pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. John Ragheb said.

The iMRI allows doctors to check their work during or right after surgery.

"If there's a piece of that tumor that's remaining that we weren't able to discern during surgery, then we can go in and take that last piece out," Niazi said. "Any sort of lesion in the brain, I think this really needs to be the gold standard."

Thanks to the iMRI, doctors were able to remove most of Willie Jr.'s tumor without causing damage.

"I just thank God and the technology that was used during the surgery to bring our baby back," Pleshette Young said.

Doctors say they will continue to monitor Willie Jr.'s condition very closely to see if further treatment is needed.