Brain Tumor Center Honors Hoosier Technology
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndianapolis-based NICO Corp. has been honored for its technology to remove brain tumors and cysts. It is the recipient of the 2013 John Karry Award, which is the highest honor from the Upper Michigan Brain Tumor Center. The UMBTC is a collaboration between Marquette General Hospital and Northern Michigan University. September 5, 2013
News Release
Indianapolis-based medical device maker NICO Corporation was recently awarded the 2013 John Karry Award for its innovation, education, advocacy, and passion for developing its BrainPath technology that is designed to atramatically access tumors and cysts deep in the brain. The John Karry Award is presented annually by the Upper Michigan Brain Tumor Center (UMBTC) and is the highest honor bestowed by the organization. The award was presented during the 8th Annual Hope Starts Here Challenge in Marquette, Mich.
“This award was really quite an honor for us because it recognizes a patient who was determined to be a survivor and beat the odds of a terminal brain cancer,” said Jim Pearson, president and CEO of NICO Corporation. “We are able to lead the way in making some giant leaps forward in corridor neurosurgery and offer patients more surgical options.”
NICO recently introduced its new access technology – the BrainPath® – that is seeing rapid adoption because of its unique design that provides the ability for surgeons to access deep regions of the brain through an opening smaller than a dime. Its atraumatic tip displaces, or gently moves, the millions of brain fiber tracts that must be passed through to get to the brain abnormality. Dr. Richard Rovin, neurosurgeon with Marquette General Health System, a Duke-Lifepoint Hospital, was the first in the United States trained to use the BrainPath.
“Accessing the subcortical space safely is the Holy Grail of neurosurgery,” Rovin said.
“BrainPath is one of the best inventions that has come to field of neurosurgery in a very long time.
Now I can give hope to patients when there was none before.”
The new approach to access and remove abnormalities can provide the ability to remove lesions that have been declared by neurosurgeons as “inoperable”. NICO has supported six CME 6 Pillar Approach courses that use the BrainPath as part of the integrated systems approach to corridor neurosurgery. By the end of 2013, approximately 100 surgeons will be trained in the approach and 25 hospitals will be using the NICO BrainPath.
“Our goal is to progress minimally invasive neurosurgery in ways that make a meaningful difference to the clinician and to the patient,” Pearson said. “John Karry was an inspiration to all of the people he touched in his life. We are inspired by everyone who courageously fights brain cancer, and we are taking huge steps in leading a true change in accessing brain abnormalities, especially hard to- reach tumors located deep inside the brain.”
NICO’s corporate mission is revolutionize minimally invasive neurosurgical care through the creation of innovative breakthrough technologies, proper education, and teamwork that results in better clinical and economic outcomes.
Approximately 500,000 brain tumor procedures are performed in the United States annually and 2.3 million people worldwide are diagnosed with a brain tumor every year. They are the leading cause of solid tumor cancer deaths in children under the age of 20, the second leading cause of cancer deaths in male adults ages 20-29, and the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths in females ages 20-29. To learn more about NICO Corporation or the NICO family of products, visit www.NICOneuro.com.
The UMBTC was created in 2005 and is a collaboration between Marquette General Hospital and Northern Michigan University. Its mission is to empower patients and families through advocacy, education, treatment and research. Learn more about UMBTC at www.hopestartshere.org.