Breakthrough Briefing: The Light We Share

To clinicians, researchers and technology enthusiasts, the BWH AMIGO suite represents the state-of-the-art in medical and surgical research environments. It offers advanced imaging equipment and interventional surgical systems in an operating room setting to guide treatment before, during and after surgery.
To many of our patients, AMIGO represents something more: hope in the face of a frightening diagnosis.
When Martha Zentis’ cancer returned, the mother of two found reason to hope, thanks to Alexandra Golby, MD, director of Image-Guided Neurosurgery, and Jessica Erdmann-Sager, MD, plastic surgeon and breast reconstructive specialist, and the technologies available in the AMIGO suite.
Drs. Golby and Erdmann-Sager, along with a multidisciplinary team, performed a multi-step operation to help Martha, whose breast cancer had metastasized to her brain. To treat her brain tumor, the medical team had to first remove Martha’s breast tissue expander, as MRIs are incompatible with tissue expanders. They then replaced it with a silicone breast implant, performed a brain MRI and, finally, operated on her brain to remove the metastasis.
Thanks to the resources of the AMIGO suite, all of these steps were performed without the patient or medical team ever having to leave the operating room. The procedures were successful, and Martha is now undergoing physical, occupational and speech therapy.
Following the surgery, Martha took Dr. Golby’s hand and said, “I see the light in you, you see the light in me. We’re connected.”
Her story reminds us of the power of advanced technology to transform patient care in ways that would have been difficult to imagine just a few years ago.