(FR-2-01) Presenting Author: Michael L. Copeland, MD PhD (Invited)
Michael L. Copeland, Gary Cram, Bill Gabella, Duco Janson, J.David Mongin, Hans S. Pratisto, Stephen R. Uhlhorn, Glenn S. Edwards
Department of Neurological Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
We report the first application of an FEL for a human operation, that of the resection of a benign brain tumor. This first subject of a ten-patient study had the diagnosis of a meningioma of approximately 3 cm in size compressing her right temporal lobe. Initially presenting with seizures, the patient had a normal neurologic exam preoperatively. Applying techniques gleaned from animal procedures, an experienced neurosurgical team exposed the tumor surgically and vaporized a small portion of the tumor in situ using 6.45 micron radiation. The remainder of the tumor was resected in standard fashion. Post-operatively, the patient has continued to remain normal neurologically and has since been seizure-free, having weaned off her seizure medication. There is no evidence of either residual tumor or surrounding brain injury in follow-up MRI scans. The unvaporized portion of the tumor was processed and analyzed histologically. These slides show minimal collateral thermal injury at the laser-tumor interface with collateral thermal injury measuring from essentially no damage to approximately 15 microns. These initial results confirm results from earlier animal studies and suggests not only that the FEL has potential as a safe, effective surgical laser but that the use of otherwise unattainable wavelengths for laser surgery could well exceed the capabilities of conventional surgical lasers.
