Brain surgeons have never had a road map in real time to navigate the brain during surgery, until now.
Patients with an operable brain tumor didn't find out if it was removed in its entirety until days after surgery. An MRI was taken and if a part of the tumor remained, another operation was ordered.
But that has changed.
Today Dr. Joseph Piepmeier, smilow cancer hospital's chief neuro-oncologist has the worlds highest quality MRI system right in his operating room. "It provides real time critical information so that the surgeon can make better decisions."
That toe peaking out from under the sterile blue draping belongs to 53-year-old Deborah Lennon. This is her second brain surgery in 12 years. "She's had a tumor now for over a decade and its a tumor that has a tendency of coming back.. and it has. In Deborah's case a portion of the tumor is evolving in an area that puts her at risk of compression in an area of the brain called the brain stem.
The black hole on the left side of this MRI image is from her previous operation. The area that looks cloudy is the new tumor.
This time, for more than 7 hours Dr. Piepmeier and his team delicately work to remove the tumor.
This is Deborah's only hope for a normal life. "If we don't become proactive in her care she's going to become sick in the near term, sick meaning neurological decline and impairment."
Also helping the doctor, a state of the art microscope, monitors with Deborah's pre operation MRI and streaming video of the actual surgery captured on an over-head camera.
Still none of it compares to his biggest asset, and it isn't even in the room yet.
After close to 5 hours of surgery Dr. Piepmeier stops and goes to what they call the control room. "We probably took out about 6 centimeters 3 inches more or less."
Deborah and the room are prepped for the in-suite MRI.
This medical breakthrough is giving doctors a look inside the brain - that they have never had before during an operation. "The ability to image during surgery, to see what has been done or needs to to be done or is this accomplishing what I want to accomplish or are there complications arising now that I need to be aware of now rather than finding out about them later, it's a significant advance."
Within 10 minutes Dr. Piepmeier, his chief resident and nurse can see what they've achieved. "This actually looks better than what I thought we were gonna see."
Most of the tumor is out, but this real time MRI shows that there is still a cloudy area where portions remains. "I'm gonna get greedy and go take some more tumor out."
Deborah is transferred to the intensive care unit after 7 hours under the knife. One day later she agrees to speak with us. "I feel great. I'm ready to get better and look forward to this year coming and vacations and just being home, and getting back to normal," says Lennon.
Deborah's operation was successful but unfortunately her entire tumor couldn't be removed because of it's location.
