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SickKids

Centre for Image Guided Care

The Centre for Image Guided Care (CIGC) develops and promotes advancements in image guided clinical care, research, and education. The CIGC utilizes the existing image-guided therapy suite (IGT) as the major platform for delivering clinical care through the Centre, and focuses on advancing paediatric image guided care to develop innovative treatments and technologies.

As research leads to development of new and innovative procedures and technologies, the CIGC is the primary avenue to build clinical capacity through training, education, and sharing of knowledge, skills, equipment, and technology. 

Major research themes

The Wilfred and Joyce Posluns Centre for Image Guided Innovation & Therapeutic Intervention (PCIGITI) is the major research arm of CIGC, bringing together surgeons, radiologists, engineers, and software developers from universities and businesses to develop new technologies in robotics. PCIGITI has two major research themes: MR-guided Interventions and Minimally Invasive Surgical Robotics.

Under MR-guided Interventions, PCIGITI supports clinical treatments by developing novel techniques and tools to use focused ultrasound in treating paediatric conditions such as osteoid osteoma, intraventricular hemorrhage, preclinical cancer models, and tendon contraction.

Under Minimally Invasive Surgical Robotics, the focus is on two areas: surgical training phantoms and steerable robotic tools. PCIGITI has developed a variety of functional training models for cardiac surgery, neurosurgery, urology and plastic surgery, as well as a variety of surgical robotic projects that range from steerable mechanicals to MR-guided soft tissue biopsy systems.

Study, learn and research at CIGC

Basic Ultrasound Principles Applied to Vascular Access - Simulation-based training course

This SickKids course is a full-day session led by Dr. Dimitri Parra and his team, designed to deliver basic knowledge and skills for HSC staff and trainees interested in learning ultrasound guided vascular access.  

The course has gained momentum and popularity among participants since its debut in January 2014, with a total of 52 participants from various health care roles successfully completing the course. The course takes place at SickKids around once a year and is supported by the CIGC, the Learning Institute, Diagnostic Imaging and Image Guided Therapy. 

You can sign up for the course online by emailing us below!

Sign up for the course


The Earl Glenwood Coulson IGT Research Day 

Since 2009, the Coulson Chair and the Clinical Research Project Manager have hosted The Earl Glenwood Coulson IGT Research Day, celebrating the research and academic achievements of the IGT Team. Each year, this event hosts a series of presentations and talks by IGT team members to learn about various ongoing or developing projects and collaborations. It serves as a forum to brainstorm research, education and quality improvement ideas related to the division and practice of Interventional Radiology. This conference also includes inspiring or thought-provoking talks given by invited guest lecturers.

The 2021 event date is TBD.


Charles Robson Urology Research Day 

U of T’s Robson Research Day offers faculty and trainees a platform to showcase their work and accomplishments. 

Read about Charles Robson Day

 

Milestones and achievements

World-first paediatric procedure to eliminate pain due to compression on the renal vein. Change of blood flow in a vein from one-way to two-way in a minimally invasive procedure involving Urology, Interventional Radiology and Cardiovascular Surgery.

Led by Dr. Armando Lorenzo, Dr. Joao Amaral and Dr. Osami Honjo.

Clinical pilot trial of treatment of Osteoid Osteoma in children was completed. This ablation modality involves the use of magnetic resonance-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound energy for the treatment of benign bone tumours. The treatment is incisionless and involves no radiation. This clinical pilot trial was one of the goals that was set out by the HIFU team at the beginning of the HIFU implementation by CIGC at SickKids. As a result, a multi-institutional / multi-national registry for patients with osteoid osteoma being treated with HIFU and other modalities (Radiofrequency ablation, Cryoablation, Laser ablation) has now been launched internationally.

Led by Dr. Michael Temple, Adam Waspe, Dr. James Drake and Dr. Joao Amaral.

This symposium was created and hosted at SickKids in 2004 by a small group of dedicated SickKids radiologists and Drs. Bairbre Connolly and Michael Temple who were passionate about advancing the practice of image-guided procedures in infants and children. In 2007, at the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) meeting in Seattle, formation of a new society dedicated to Paediatric IR was proposed. The Symposium was handed off to the Society for Paediatric Interventional Radiology, who now organizes yearly conferences and educational events. 

With the help of a generous donor, a laser ablation equipment system was purchased and implemented at SickKids to perform Magnetic Resonance-Guided Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy (MRgLITT) for the clinical care of children with deep brain lesions. Led by Dr. James Drake, this innovative procedure was completed in approximately 10 cases at SickKids.  

New procedure using a drug-coated balloon in a patient with a case of recurrent hepatic vein stenosis post partial hepatectomy due to neoplasia.

Led by Dr. Dimitri Parra and IGT team.   

Innovative approach avoiding open surgical procedure to treat stones impacted in the biliary ducts of a liver transplant patient.

Led by Dr. Dimitri Parra and Dr. Armando Lorenzo.   

Three surgical cases of DBS by Neurosurgery in collaboration with the IGT team were performed in patients with genetic dystonia, acquired dystonia and epilepsy.

Led by Dr. George Ibrahim 

New palliative treatment for a benign tumour that has an aggressive behavior and high rates of recurrence after therapy.

Led by Dr. Michael Temple 

Reconstruction of IVC venous outflow with stents which improve lower limbs venous return and reduce the chance of Post thrombotic Syndrome.

Led by Dr. Michael Temple 

Two-day inaugural event took place on April 12-13, 2019 where International Paediatric Interventional Radiologists learned about 6 new ablation techniques and modalities at SickKids: MR-guided High Intensity Focused Ultrasound, Cryoablation, Microwave Ablation, Radiofrequency Ablation, Laser Ablation, and Irreversible Electroporation. Didactic lectures focused on the physics, individual ablation techniques, current uses of these modalities in children and future directions. Attendees also participated in Hands-on Workshops of each modality and discussed ways to develop some Research collaboration.

This event was led by Dr. Michael Temple and Dr. Joao Amaral.

Staff

  • Dr. Joao Amaral – Centre Co-Director, Interventional Radiologist, Department of Diagnostic Imaging 
  • Dr. Armando Lorenzo – Centre Co-Director, Surgeon, Department of Urology 
  • Dr. Clyde Matava – Anesthesiologist, Department of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine 
  • Lisa Pendergast – Director, Perioperative Services 
  • Wayne Lee – Director, Department of Diagnostic Imaging 
  • Zoran Bojic – Senior Manager, DI Operations, Diagnostic Imaging 
  • Adam Waspe – Senior Project Manager, Division of Neurosurgery 
  • Lauren Erdman – Bioinformatician, Centre for Computational Medicine 
  • Olga Carpio – CIGC Project Coordinator 

  • Dr. James Drake – Centre Co-Director, Division Head, Neurosurgery (ad hoc member) 
  • Dr. Manohar Shroff – Radiologist-in-Chief, Diagnostic Imaging (ad hoc member) 
  • Dr. Dimitri Parra – Interventional Radiologist, Department of Diagnostic Imaging 
  • Dr. Mike Temple – Interventional Radiologist, Department of Diagnostic Imaging 
  • Dr. Prakash Muthusami – Interventional Radiologist, Department of Diagnostic Imaging 
  • Dr. Agostino Pierro – Surgeon, Division of General and Thoracic Surgery

Associated departments and divisions

SickKids

University of Toronto

  • Neurostimulation and Adult IR 

Sunnybrook Hospital

Contact us

Have a question? Get in touch with us at the CIGC at cigc.info@sickkids.ca.

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