Article Excerpt
New surgical technique uses laser energy to destroy brain tumors
Novel approach is minimally invasive and precise
04:20 PM CDT on Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Wendy Rigby / KENS 5
Perez has had one surgery to remove the tumor, but now the cancer has returned. This time, Dr. John Floyd, a U.T. Health Science Center neurosurgeon, is trying something different.
In an operating room at St. Luke’s Baptist Hospital, the doctor secured an anchor in the outside of the skull. Then, using what’s called neuro-navigation for precision, he slid a catheter several inches inside the head. That catheter houses a laser that can zap the cells growing out of control and threatening Perez’ life.
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Lester Beck was the first patient to undergo laser brain surgery at MUSC and is just the 30th person in the world to have it done.
Ray Turner, 33, a Medical University of South Carolina neurosurgeon, performed the first laser brain surgery in the hospital’s history, only the 10th performed in the United States and the 30th in the world. “It’s exhilarating,” he said Thursday. “This is what we want to do in medicine, stay on the cutting edge.”
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Article Excerpt
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.
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“World first: Lasers used in keyhole surgery for brain cancer” – Agence France-Presse
Paris, France August 29th, 2008 – Visualase technology used to successfully treat brain tumors, as reported by AFP and the Telegraph (UK).
Read: AFP article | Telegraph article
Paris hospital hosts pioneering laser brain surgery
Saturday 30 August 2008 – A French team of neurosurgeons claims top have successfully tested a combination of new techniques, including fibre-optic lasers, in treating brain cancer through ultra-keyhole surgery.
Read: France24
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