Announcing the Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute New Jerseys Largest Neurology And Neurosurgery Program Institutes Now United

What You Need To Know

• The three nationally-recognized neuroscience institutes at Hackensack University Medical Center, Jersey Shore University Medical Center and JFK University Medical Center are now united as Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute.
• It is the largest, most comprehensive Neuroscience Institute in the state, offering premiere technology for treatment of neurological disease and disorders that cannot be found at most other institutions.
• Under the Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute umbrella, neurology and neurosurgery team members can leverage the network resources to provide their patients with enhanced access to evidence-based care protocols, clinical trials, technology, and subspecialty expertise — closer to home, and without the need to refer patients outside HMH.

Providing Advanced Technology Not Available At Other Institutions

The Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute will provide patients with access to state-of-the-art care and advanced therapies through new research and clinical trials, including:

• Quicktome brain mapping technology: This innovation in imaging maps brain networks and electrical connections to preserve them during surgery, enabling surgeons to plot out a surgery that would limit the amount of brain tissue impacted. The Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute sites are the first locations in New Jersey and only a few in the Northeast with this technology.
• High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HiFU): We have the only locations in New Jersey to offer this unique non-invasive procedure. It effectively treats Parkinson’s tremors and essential tremors in cases where managing with medication hasn’t been effective, allowing patients to return to their normal activities without debilitating tremors.
• Zap-X to treat brain tumors: We will begin offering this non-invasive precision treatment for brain cancer and other conditions of the head and neck this summer. It delivers high-dose radiation without destroying healthy brain cells. The Neuroscience Institute will be the sixth in the nation, and the only one in the Northeast, and globally the first to pair it with Synaptive MRI, shortening the time from diagnosis to treatment.
• Surgical Theater: If brain or spine surgery is required, the Neuroscience Institute at JFK University Medical Center is one of a handful of hospitals nationally and the only one in New Jersey offering this 3D imaging technology and intraoperative augmented reality imaging. It allows neurosurgeons to see exceptionally detailed images to determine the best strategy to target pathologies while preserving normal tissue. Doctors also use this technology to practice a surgery before they perform it and to demonstrate to patients what needs to be done.
• Gamma knife and fluorescence-targeted radiation: The Neuroscience Institute also skillfully uses these advanced technologies to treat brain tumors, tremors and other neurological issues.
• Intraoperative MRI system: Used during neurosurgical and neuro-interventional procedures, it helps neurosurgeons accurately remove tumors and treat conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy. Similar technology, including Clear Point, brings MRI technology into the operation room, allowing patients to undergo deep brain stimulation (DBS) while asleep rather than awake. The Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute is home to New Jersey’s first intraoperative MRI system.

“The Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute offers the highest standard of care for patients with neurological illnesses, allowing us to bring together neurologists, neurosurgeons and other neurology specialists including neuropsychologists, case managers, neurointensivists, researchers and neuro-oncologists so that every facet of a neurological illness is attended to.” – Timothy Hogan, FACHE, executive vice president of Hackensack Meridian Health Care Transformation Services

Other technology available at the Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute includes Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy (LiTT Technology), a minimally invasive surgical option for people with drug-resistant epilepsy and select brain tumors and DaTSCAN Camera, one of the most advanced diagnostic imaging technologies available to visualize dopamine transporter levels in the brain. and an effective tool in diagnosing Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders.