In what is believed to be a world first, a surgeon in Scotland has developed a procedure to remove apple-sized brain tumours through patients’ eyebrows.
Consultant neurosurgeon Anastasios Giamouriadis of NHS Grampian has adapted an existing technique of keyhole surgery to remove the tumours, which leaves considerably less scarring than regular craniotomies.
The Independent reports that this enables him to remove much larger tumours from the front of the brain than was previously the case, with some reported to be the size of large apples.
The new method also takes far less time to complete, meaning operating teams are less fatigued when the procedure is finally finished.
Giamouradis and his team have performed the procedure on 48 patients so far, with many of them being able to leave hospital a day later.
“The patient will go home the second day and be back to normal life in most occasions within a week or two,” he said.
In the pipeline, he added, are plans to use virtual reality to teach other surgeons how to perform the procedure. He is currently working with a team at the University of Aberdeen on the project and they are “very close” to having it ready.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Glioblastoma brain tumour review
Surgeons honoured for awake craniotomy on guitar-strumming musician