Burning out brain tumors: new procedure shows promise
Posted: Apr 20, 2009 5:59 PM CDT Updated: Apr 28, 2009 11:51 AM CDT
By Carolyn Roy, KSLA News 12
SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) – A Shreveport neurosurgeon has taken brain surgery for the removal of tumors to a whole new level, finding a way to obliterate a tumors, with much less risk. A Many, Louisiana woman was the first patient in the U.S. to have the procedure done.
Karen Mowad … has been through surgery, chemotherapy and radiation…, but when the cancer spread to her brain, she came to Dr. Ravish Patwardhan of the Comprehensive Neurosurgery Network.
The Shreveport 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, Dr. Patwardhan 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,” says Dr. Patwardhan. “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 burning it.” The alternative was another open operation. Mowad 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, burn the tumor and then the tumor will essentially evaporate. 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 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 Mowad 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 Dr. Patwardhan. It’s also faster, and it appears to be just as effective, if not more so. Mowad’s surgery came at the end of one week. She was back at work by the beginning of the next. (Please note Visualase is effective in ablating tumors. It is not a cure for cancer.) Six months later, there is still no sign of the tumor. “The number of people who make it out one year with a metastatic brain tumor is very low,” explains Dr. Patwardhan. “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 Mowad became the first patient in North America to undergo the procedure, several others have followed. For now, Dr. Patwardhan says they’re reserving the laser treatment for brain tumors as a last resort, as long as patients’ conditions meet certain criteria. “It’s restricted for tumors where you can go into them, which are tumors that are not extraordinarily hard, but there are quite a few tumors that are amenable to this treatment, so that’s nice.”
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