NeuroBlate procedure involves small hole in skull unlike traditional brain surgery
This is big, this is a game changer! Last month neurosurgeon Phillip Porcelli, DO, performed central and southern Ohio’s first minimally invasive, image-guided laser therapy on a patient with a brain tumor at Kettering Medical Center’s Wallace-Kettering Neuroscience Institute.
This procedure offers patients who have difficult-to-access tumors a treatment option that they otherwise would not have locally. The procedure is used for some tumors that are difficult to access with standard brain surgery. The technology is the NeuroBlate® System from Monteris Medical®. It can be precisely controlled to kill abnormal tissue while doing as little harm as possible to surrounding healthy tissue. It can also be used with patients who have tumors in areas of the brain that are difficult to access by traditional open surgery without harming essential functions like speech, vision, and muscle control.
Unlike traditional brain surgery, NeuroBlate does not require a large opening in the skull which exposes the brain, which in and of itself can be a traumatic injury to the brain. Using NeuroBlate, the surgeon makes a small hole in the skull about as big around as a pencil. While the patient’s head is secured in place, the surgeon guides a small probe through that hole precisely into the tumor. The probe delivers laser light energy to heat up and destroy the tumor. The precise nature of the procedure helps to lessen the likelihood of harm to health tissue.
