Medical Design and Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • Med Tech Resources
    • DeviceTalks Tuesdays
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • The Big 100
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Video
  • 2022 Leadership in MedTech
    • 2022 Leadership Voting!
    • 2021 Winners
    • 2020 Winners
  • Women in Medtech

Henry Ford Hospital Performs First Minimally Invasive Laser Brain Surgeries in Michigan

December 9, 2013 By PR Newswire

Surgeons at Henry Ford Hospital have performed the first two minimally invasive laser brain surgeries in Michigan – one for epilepsy and one to treat a brain tumor. And in both cases the patients went home the day after the procedure.

“These types of surgeries can be as effective as conventional brain surgery for select patients and certain tumors, with much less risk and side effects to the patient,” says Steven Kalkanis, M.D., a neurosurgeon and medical director of the Center for Cancer Surgery at Henry Ford Hospital.

Conventional brain surgery typically lasts several hours, with partial skull removal and cutting through healthy brain tissue to reach the area needing treatment. After surgery, patients generally stay in the hospital for two to seven days and then are out of work for two to six weeks.

In the minimally invasive laser brain surgeries, a neurosurgeon inserts a laser filament within a thin, flexible cooling catheter into the patient’s brain through a tiny (4mm) hole in the skull, while monitoring the procedure via Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner images in real time.

The laser can deliver extremely precise energy to destroy tumors and abnormal areas of the brain that can cause epilepsy. The MRI’s special software makes it possible for the surgeon to measure the temperature in different regions of the brain, allowing the neurosurgeon to make sure the appropriate tissue is being destroyed and minimize damage to healthy tissue.

The MRI-guided laser ablation procedure takes approximately four hours and patients are usually discharged the next day from the hospital.

Epilepsy patient Norma Probe of Woodhaven was the first in Michigan to undergo a MRI-guided laser ablation. The procedure was performed by neurosurgeon Jason M. Schwalb, M.D., Surgical Director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at Henry Ford.

At 64 years old, Probe has had seizures since she was in her 20s. Probe tried 10 different seizure medications, either alone or in combination, but she still experienced at least one seizure a month that affected her consciousness. There are an estimated 1 million Americans like Probe with drug-resistant epilepsy.

“I would go into a blank stare for a minute or two, than come out of it,” recalls Probe, who has seven children and 12 grandchildren. “I couldn’t drive or do anything by myself like swimming or taking a bath. I never knew when I might have a seizure.”

Probe went home the day after her MRI-guided laser ablation. And in the four weeks since undergoing the procedure at Henry Ford Hospital, she has not had a seizure.

“The ability to monitor the temperature of different regions of the brain in the MRI scanner is a significant advancement, allowing us to preserve critical brain regions. We hope that this new procedure will give a comparable cure rate to open surgery with decreased risks and discomfort,” says Dr. Schwalb.

The minimally invasive, laser ablation brain surgery was performed a second time, Nov. 15, on a patient with a brain tumor.

A resident of Detroit, 62-year-old Shal Washington-Phillips was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2010. She came to Henry Ford in May 2013 with blurred vision, headaches and dizziness. It was discovered that her cancer had metastasized to an area of the brain that could not be reached by conventional brain surgery. After stereotactic radiosurgery (a precise radiation treatment), she was determined to be an ideal candidate for laser tumor ablation.

“In this situation all other treatments had failed and surgery was not possible because of the tumor’s location,” says Dr. Kalkanis, who performed the surgery along with Dr. Ian Lee. “We literally had exhausted all options; this new minimally invasive laser surgery gave us the one option we needed to be able to treat this tumor and prolong life.

“The patient went home the morning after surgery, which would not have been the case if she had had conventional brain tumor surgery. Her headaches have significantly improved, and she is functioning at near-normal levels. This is an excellent outcome for a first procedure.”

Washington-Phillips agrees: “I no longer have any hallucinations. The headaches have gone away and the pain in one of the arms is gone.”

Henry Ford Hospital is one of just 25 centers in the U.S. that can perform this type of laser surgery on the brain.

The technology was developed by Visualase, Inc., a privately held company in Houston.

Related Articles Read More >

DeepWell Digital Therapeutics Mike Wilson Ryan Douglas
How DeepWell is developing video games as tools for treating medical conditions
A woman with a small, handheld device in her lap with tubes that look like earphones plugged into her ears.
Ear-puffing device for migraine treatment wins FDA breakthrough designation
Abbott
Abbott launches upgraded digital health app for neurostimulation
Catheter delivery could enable better brain implants: Synchron’s neuroscience chief explains how

DeviceTalks Weekly.

May 13, 2022
Our Pre-Post-DeviceTalks Boston episode, also MedtronicTalks replay with Gastro CMO Austin Chiang
See More >

MDO Digital Edition

Digital Edition

Subscribe to Medical Design & Outsourcing. Bookmark, share and interact with the leading medical design engineering magazine today.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
DeviceTalks

DeviceTalks is a conversation among medical technology leaders. It's events, podcasts, webinars and one-on-one exchanges of ideas & insights.

DeviceTalks

New MedTech Resource

Medical Tubing

Enewsletter Subscriptions

Enewsletter Subscriptions

MassDevice

Mass Device

The Medical Device Business Journal. MassDevice is the leading medical device news business journal telling the stories of the devices that save lives.

Visit Website
MDO ad
Medical Design and Outsourcing
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • MedTech 100 Index
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World
  • R&D World
  • About Us/Contact
  • Advertise With Us
  • Subscribe to Print Magazine
  • Subscribe to E-newsletter
  • Attend our Monthly Webinars
  • Listen to our Weekly Podcasts
  • Join our DeviceTalks Tuesdays Discussion

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Site Map | Privacy Policy | RSS

Search Medical Design & Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • Med Tech Resources
    • DeviceTalks Tuesdays
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • The Big 100
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Video
  • 2022 Leadership in MedTech
    • 2022 Leadership Voting!
    • 2021 Winners
    • 2020 Winners
  • Women in Medtech