Epilepsy Talk
Laser Surgery — Breakthrough Epilepsy Treatment! | August 7, 2017
Revolutionary laser surgery — a safer, less invasive alternative to brain surgery as we know it — has slowly been achieving success with brain tumor patients.
Instead of the more traditional craniotomy, in which a bone flap is removed from the skull, neurosurgeons are using MRI-guided laser technology to destroy lesions in hard-to-access regions of the brain.
“This is a tool for patients with tumors who have been told they do not have other options” — Shabbar F. Danish, MD, of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital — says about laser-assisted thermal ablation.
“This is also a viable option for patients who do not want radiation therapy or general anesthesia. Additionally, we can take their hospital stay from four to seven days down to 24 hours.”
The procedure marries the precision of navigation tools…with an MRI-guided laser probe that’s as small and light as a pen.
“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, you heat it and you can watch 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 if the tumor is gone. So you have instant gratification.”
“Based on our experience, we believe the use of MRI-guided laser surgery will change the face of epilepsy treatment and provide a life-changing option for many epilepsy surgery candidates — both children and adults,” said Dr. Angus Wilfong, director of Texas Children’s comprehensive epilepsy program and associate professor of pediatrics and neurology at Baylor College of Medicine.
And it will bring new hope to all of us. The chance to change our lives.
Resources:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7659036.html
http://www.disabled-world.com/health/neurology/epilepsy/laser-surgery.php
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140602132115.htm
Tags: breakthrough, Epilepsy, laser surgery, less invasive, life-changing option, MRI-guided, safer, success, thermal ablation
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Epilepsy Talk 
The question I have always have had is,, After a lesion is removed from a brain surgery, How long can one grow back in its place, or Can it regrow again ? I was told by the TOP neurologist at the NIH 12 years ago, that they do not grow back once all of a lesion is removed. After 16 years from having that surgery, What’s to say maybe no lesion is there, but maybe a brain tumor instead, from the AED’s that have been killing off, or making INACTIVE, brain neurons & brain cells.
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Comment by C D — August 7, 2017 @ 1:32 PM
CD, I don’t know. I wish I did. 😦
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Comment by Phylis Feiner Johnson — August 7, 2017 @ 1:58 PM
Any medical procedure with the potential to minimize, control, stop or eliminate the magnitude & frequency of Epileptic menace is very inspiring progress to the right direction.
Every effort in conquering Epilepsy is just another professional experience in the scientific process & medical crusade of overcoming the odds & risks for potentially successful solutions to epilepsy.
Thanks to the educational & medical establishments investing their time, intellectual & financial resources to eliminate the root-causes of epilepsy, millions of victims are being inspired to see the end of their medical ordeals.
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Comment by Gerrie — August 7, 2017 @ 10:28 PM
Fingers crossed that this is a REAL breakthrough!
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Comment by Phylis Feiner Johnson — August 8, 2017 @ 7:41 AM
Will this also be suitable for someone who is not necessarily a candidate for surgery? My son has multiple brain scars due to a Tbi
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Comment by Jennifer Fourie — September 12, 2022 @ 10:01 AM
Yes. I believe so. It’s more a question for your neuro than me.
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Comment by Phylis Feiner Johnson — September 12, 2022 @ 10:04 AM