Yorkshire surgeons can now remove 'inoperable' brain tumours
A new sat nav for the brain'' means surgeons in Yorkshire can now remove tumours which were previously considered inoperable.
Doctors have hailed the state-of-the-art equipment at the Sheffield Children's Hospital, where kids and teens from our region are treated, as the key to driving up survival rates from deadly brain cancer.
Using an intraoperative MRI scanner together with sophisticated brain mapping equipment, surgeons are able to work out whether they have managed to remove all of a brain tumour while still in theatre.
They can also work out precisely where a tumour is, thereby ensuring surrounding healthy tissue is not damaged.
So far, two young patients have benefited from the new operating suite.
Eight-year-old Jack McGuigan, has been attending the Hospital since he was 10 months old.
He has a condition called Langerhans' cell histiocytosis (LCH), which is a cancer-like condition that causes growths of bone in his body.
Thanks to the scanner, he no longer needs general anaesthetic.
He said:
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It didn't feel scary at all. It reminded me of a posh speaker.''
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Ebony Taylor (pictured with her mum), 16, has epilepsy and has also used the new scanner.
She said:
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The old MRI scanner made such a horrible noise, I can't describe it.
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I was nervous coming to use this one but it was so good. It wasn't as claustrophobic and it was just more relaxing with all the lighting.''
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Hesham Zaki, head of the department of paediatric neurosurgery, said the equipment puts the Sheffield hospital at the forefront of increasing survival rates from brain tumours in the UK and worldwide.
He said:
The fact we can use the MRI scanner during the surgery is a real step-change.
We scan the patient that we are operating on with their skull still open and the operation still ongoing.
The MRI images mean that we can be sure the tumour has been completely removed and nothing has been left behind before we finish the operation.
This is important because some types of brain tumour can look like normal brain.''
Mr Zaki said children's survival from brain tumours is almost entirely dependent on whether the surgeon is able to remove all of the tumour''.
He added:
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Using a combination of MRI scanning and the brain lab ,we can offer the most advanced system in the UK for neuro-navigation.
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Information from the MRI scanner is loaded into the brain lab, which is able to guide us with absolute precision to where we want to go to remove the tumour.
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Just like a sat nav, it tells me where I need to go.
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This is a sea-change. Tumours that were inoperable can now be operated on.''
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Since the suite opened six weeks ago, two big tumours on two children have been completely removed. The youngest patient was three.