Care for our patients
We offer qualitative and effective care according to the most recent insights to patients, in line with our care profile. This includes care for which we have a statutory duty, such as level 1 trauma care and care to patients with rare diseases via our expertise centers for rare diseases , care within our six focal points, and complex care (such as multi-specialist or multi-diagnostic care). Our objective here is to work together with patients , so that we can give patients care that is suited to them.
Opening of the MRI OR
In the fall of 2022 we opened the new intra-operative MRI operating room for children with brain tumors at Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital together with the Princess Máxima Center. The MRI at the operating room offers the possibility to make new MRI scans of the surgical zone during an operation. This means that up-to-the-minute information on the size of the remaining tumor and how it relates to healthy surrounding tissue is available to the neurosurgeon.The neurosurgeon can thus remove more tumor tissue, more safely and precisely. As a result, fewer complications will arise, with a better outcome of the operation for the patient, which could prevent further operations.
1,000th patient treated with MRI-LINAC
In March 2022 the thousandth patient received radiation treatment with MRI-LINAC . More and more cancer treatments at UMC Utrecht are taking place with the use of MRI-LINAC. Using this radiation device together with an MRI scanner makes it possible to radiate patients with great precision while sparing healthy tissue. Thanks to the precision and dose per application, fewer radiation may be needed in total. UMC Utrecht has three MRI-LINAC devices .
First laser ablation with epilepsy in the Netherlands.
In May 2022, for the first time in the Netherlands, we did an MRI-guided laser ablation in the brain for two patients with epilepsy. Till recently, patients from the Netherlands who need to undergo this treatment had to be sent to Houston (USA) or London (UK). Due to the high costs, very few patients qualified for this operation. Now that the treatment is available at UMC Utrecht, more patients in the Netherlands can be treated in this way. Through MRI-guided laser ablation, damage to surrounding tissue with important functions can be prevented. Because the treatment is also less stressful for the patient, the latter recovers faster and can go home sooner.
Better prediction of metastases in skin cancer
At UMC Utrecht a new prediction model for skin cancer that allows a better estimate of whether skin cancer (melanoma) will lead to metastases in the lymph nodes and whether lymph-node surgery will be necessary. Every year, about 7,000 people in the Netherlands are told they have a melanoma. With lymph node surgery, a physician can examine whether there are metastases in those lymph nodes. In approximately 80% of patients with melanoma who undergo lymph-node surgery, the lymph nodes do not appear to contain metastases. Thanks to the new prediction model, fewer patients are operated needlessly.
