Part 1:
First, the neurosurgical team places a frame on the child's head with a set of markers that will help the surgeon calculate a safe path to the diseased tissue, without harming healthy parts of the brain. The child then goes into the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner.
Bostonchildrens.org/laserablation
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Boston Children's Hospital is one of a handful of centers offering a new, minimally invasive laser therapy to remove tumors or diseased brain tissue that is too deep inside the brain to safely access with usual neurosurgical methods.
Light energy from a laser is used to destroy the abnormal tissue with precision accuracy, guided by advanced MR imaging. This procedure is an excellent option for children with deep brain tumors or seizures caused by abnormalities deep within the brain, who have not been helped by medication and for whom surgery would normally be considered unsafe.
The entire process takes about four hours, and most children can go home the next day. Pain is minimal.These videos describe what happens in the operation, step by step.
For more information or to schedule an evaluation, contact Joseph Madsen, MD, in the Department of Neurosurgery (Joseph.Madsen@childrens.harvard.edu or 617-355-6008).
