Clinical certification of 7T MRI at Spinoza featured on radio show 'BNR Beter'
11 February 2025In yesterday’s episode of Dutch radio show BNR Beter, Spinoza’s Wietske van der Zwaag and neurosurgeon Maarten Bot from Amsterdam UMC discussed the newly certified 7 Tesla MRI scanner and its impact on patient care. Amsterdam UMC is the first hospital in the Netherlands to use a 7 Tesla MRI for clinical care. Previously restricted to research, the scanner—located at the Spinoza Centre for the past ten years—has now been officially approved for medical use. You can check out the full interview (in Dutch) here.
During the interview, they explained how Maarten Bot uses the scanner’s increased detail to improve deep brain stimulation (DBS) treatments for Parkinson’s patients. “I need to find a tiny coffee bean in the brain, and this scanner makes that much easier,” Bot said, highlighting the precision this advanced imaging technology offers.
Compared to standard 1.5 or 3 Tesla MRI scanners, the 7 Tesla MRI provides higher-resolution images, making it easier to visualize deep brain structures and fine blood vessels. While its benefits are already clear for DBS patients, its potential applications extend to other pre-surgical neurological conditions such as epilepsy, brain tumors, and neurovascular diseases. The scanner helps detect abnormalities that might be invisible on standard MRIs and offers more precise imaging for treatment planning. The new certification makes these high-detail scans available to all DBS patients within the Amsterdam UMC, with potential benefits for many more neurological conditions in the future.