“It’s so much easier on the patient than a conventional procedure”
Posted: Apr 20, 2009 5:59 PM CDT Updated: Apr 28, 2009 11:51 AM CDT
By Carolyn Roy, KSLA News 12
(KSLA) – A neurosurgeon has taken brain surgery for the removal of tumors to a whole new level, finding a way to (ablate) tumors, with much less risk. A … Louisiana woman was the first patient in the U.S. to have the procedure done.
Karen… has been through surgery, chemotherapy and radiation…
The neurosurgeon had to open her skull to remove that tumor. It’s the kind of surgery that leaves a big scar and comes with serious risks and a longer recovery time. But by the time another tumor appeared last fall, the neurosurgeon had a new tool to try: a laser probe, and he was looking for a patient willing to be the first. “We offered her both options,” “We said, ‘Look, you’ll be the first one in, really, North America to have this tumor re-sected for a metastatic brain tumor. If you’re interested in it, we can do this. It involves making a small opening and going in and (ablating) it.” The alternative was another open operation. She was in.
The procedure marries the precision of navigation tools … with an MRI-guided laser probe developed by Visualase out of Houston. “What this does is you just have to make a hole that will take you to the middle of the tumor, and (ablate) the tumor. It’s actually done in the MRI suite, so when the probe is confirmed to be in the correct position in the MRI suite what you do then is heat it and you can watch it directly on the MRI scanner what area is being heated using the program. After that you can do another MRI scan, since the patient is already there to show the (if) tumor is gone. So you have instant gratification.”
The procedure leaves behind a small pinpoint incision, comparable to that size of the tip of a pencil. Karen was able to stay awake through the procedure, and felt no significant discomfort. In addition to avoiding the risks related to anesthesia, the laser ablation probe is thin and slides through the brain with much less disturbance. It allows the surgeon to reach even deep tumors with far less risk, like the brain swelling that comes with conventional procedures.
“It’s so much simpler and easier on the patient than a conventional procedure,” says the neurosurgeon. It’s also faster, and it appears to be just as effective, if not more so. Karen’s surgery came at the end of one week. She was back at work by the beginning of the next. Six months later, there is still no sign of the tumor. (Please note Visualase is effective in ablating tumor tissue. It is not a cure for cancer.) “The number of people who make it out one year with a metastatic brain tumor is very low. She’s actually functioning and working, which is incredible.”
“It’s because of a lot of what I’ve been through, you know, I want other people not to be afraid of this.”
Since Karen became the first patient in North America to undergo the procedure, several others have followed.
