1. GBM Guide – MGH Brain Tumor Center

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   Brain Tumor Guide for the Newly Diagnosed

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Watching Tumors Die

Thursday, April 2, 2009
By Sarah Petrie

Above, from left: Kamran Ahrar, M.D., and R. Jason Stafford, Ph.D., discuss an upcoming spinal surgery that will use the Visualase technology. They’ll be able to watch the tumor fully die in near real time during the procedure. Depending on where the tumor is located, the patient may or may not be awake during the procedure.

History books show that surgeons began removing cancerous tumors as early as the second century. Zoom ahead to 2009, take away the scalpels, scars and side effects that typically accompany surgery, and trade them for a tiny laser beam that zaps cancer dead on the spot. It sounds like science fiction, but our researchers and clinicians are among the first in the nation to investigate a new procedure that does just this … and more.

“It’s called laser-induced thermal therapy, and the basic theory is that the laser heats the tumor to a certain temperature to kill it,” explains Jeffrey Weinberg, M.D., associate professor in Neurosurgery, who’s conducting a clinical trial to test the effectiveness of this procedure on patients with metastatic brain tumors.
How hot is too hot for a cancerous tumor? Sixty degrees Celsius, in most cases.

“The clinical trial targets patients with otherwise inoperable tumors or those for whom other treatments failed,” Weinberg says. “This is possible because tissues surrounding the tumor aren’t harmed or affected with this procedure — an advantage over other types of brain surgeries for cancer, including radiosurgery.”

Delivering laser energy using a device only millimeters in diameter, the procedure leaves a scar no bigger than your thumb. Plus, there should be no side effects for this less-invasive surgery, which takes only a few hours from start to finish. “The laser portion should only take a few minutes, and patients will experience no swelling and little pain,” Weinberg adds.

Other forms of what also is known as ablation therapy already are in practice, killing tumors using heat, cold or electricity. So what makes this particular procedure so revolutionary? The physician actually watches the tumor die in real time, according to Kamran Ahrar, M.D., associate professor in Interventional Radiology, who has performed the procedure on a few patients with bone and spinal tumors as part of a similar clinical trial.

Weinberg agrees this is the biggest advantage of this method over other forms of treatment. “Patients don’t have to wait weeks or months for tests to confirm if the entire tumor is gone, as is the case with most surgeries. Instead, using this technology, we can convert magnetic resonance imaging into a color picture that indicates the temperature of the tissue,” he says. “This allows us to know exactly when the tumor is hot enough to fully die.”

How does it work?

Houston-based company Visualase Inc., which sells the technology, approached M. D. Anderson in 2000 for help with developing the tool. “For this procedure to be successful, the doctors must know the precise location and distribution of temperature in the tumor and that’s where the physicists come in the picture,” explains R. Jason Stafford, Ph.D., assistant professor in Imaging Physics, and lead consultant on the Visualase technology development for M. D. Anderson.

In other words, a stereotactic navigation system, “like a GPS for your brain” as Weinberg puts it, pinpoints the exact location and size of the tumor. After the surgeon drills a hole and sends the specially designed fiber directly to the tumor, the laser is activated, thus heating the tumor. Doing it in the MRI allows clinicians to monitor temperatures within the tissue. “Temperature as well as predicted regions of complete treatment are color-coded on a screen, giving us the ability to adjust or retreat a certain area, as needed,” Stafford adds.

And at M. D. Anderson, this entire procedure can be performed in one room, unlike at other institutions that also are researching the procedure. We have a dedicated intra-operative MRI suite, which is safer for patients than moving them to different locations to complete the procedure.

Visualase Inc. is not affiliated with amazon.com or any of the authors on this list. This list is provided for educational purposes in that it may provide a better quality of life for someone dealing with a brain tumor.

Get an updated list on amazon.com on “Brain Tumor Treatment”

Books › “Brain Tumor Treatment”

Late Effects of Treatment for Brain Tumors (Cancer Treatment and Research) by Stewart Goldman and Christopher D. Turner (Hardcover – Aug 31, 2009)

Excerpt – Table of Contents: “… II Medical Late Effects of Brain Tumor Treatment 8 Neurological Complications in Adults 113 Michelle Monje and Patrick …”Surprise me! See a random page in this book.

Blood-brain barrier disruption for the treatment of malignant brain tumors: the national program.: An article from: Journal of Neuroscience Nursing by Nancy D. Doolittle, Annie Petrillo, Susan Bell, and Pamela Cummings (Digital – Jul 28, 2005) – HTML

2009 Conquering Cancer – The Empowered Patient’s Complete Reference to Brain Tumors – Diagnosis, Treatment Options, Prognosis (Two CD-ROM Set) by PM Medical Health News (CD-ROM – Jan 8, 2009)

Angiogenesis in Brain Tumors (Cancer Treatment and Research) by Matthias Kirsch and Peter McL. Black (Hardcover – Feb 29, 2004)

Brain Tumors: Practical Guide to Diagnosis and Treatment (Neurological Disease and Therapy) by Joachim M. Baehring and Joseph M. Piepmeier (Hardcover – Oct 3, 2006)

Excerpt – page 40: “… Treatment of children with newly diag- nosed brain stem gliomas with intravenous recombinant … biology and treatment of brain tumors. Neuroimaging Clin N Am 2002; 12(4):525-536. …”Surprise me! See a random page in this book.

Brain Tumors in Children: Principles of Diagnosis and Treatment (The International Review of Child Neurology) by Michael E. Cohen and Patricia Kressel, M.D. Duffner (Hardcover – April 1994)

Benign Tumors in the Third Ventricle of the Brain: Diagnosis and Treatment by Walter Edward Dandy (Hardcover – 1991)