Surrey to benefit from world-class medical equipment

WHALLEY — Surrey’s Innovation Boulevard will be home to a world-class medical imaging lab that’s designed to advance brain research as well as provide diagnostics and treatment monitoring in mental health, neurology and help patients with addictions.

The ImageTech Lab is being made possible with $3.6 million in funding from Western Economic Diversification. It will be located at Surrey Memorial Hospital and feature a state-of-the-art 3.0 Tesla whole body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine and an upgraded 275-channel magneto encephalography (MEG) machine.

“Our longstanding MEG partnership with the Down Syndrome Research Foundation has grown into a much larger opportunity,” said Dr. Ryan D’Arcy, Simon Fraser University neuroscientist and project leader.

“Now, such tools will enable the region’s top health innovators to bring rapid advances in the treatment for devastating brain disorders and diseases like brain tumors, epilepsy, dementia, depression and brain injury.”

D’Arcy said combining advanced MRI and MEG offers “the best possible window” into brain activity. The ImageTech Lab at SMH will position B.C. for global leadership, he added. “When you include the MEG capability in particular, there is nothing like it in Western Canada.”

D’Arcy noted that access to Surrey’s latest MEG resources for conditions such as epilepsy will “immediately and profoundly impact our region’s children and families.” He predicts breakthroughs in treatment for brain cancer, strokes, dementia and other serious brain maladies.

tom.zytaruk@thenownewspaper.com