Voices Against Brain Cancer Comments On Breakthrough Brain Surgery Technique

Voices Against Brain Cancer comments on a breakthrough brain surgery that gives surgeons access to deep-seated brain tumors.

According to the October 22, 2013 article published by ArkansasMatters.com titled “UAMS Uses New Brain Tumor Procedure for 1st Time in Ark.,” a “new and cutting-edge” procedure to remove brain tumors embedded deep in the brain was performed for the first time at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).

UAMS says the minimally invasive procedure has been successfully performed twice and uses a tube-like 3-D tool, imagery of tracts in the brain, and a computerized brain-navigation system. It gives neurosurgeons access to tumors, abscesses, and hemorrhages that are deeply embedded in the brain that previously would have been too dangerous to access safely.

John D. Day, M.D., Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery in the UAMS College of Medicine says that the new procedure is “a promising development in allowing brain tumor removal with a minimum of injury to the surrounding healthy tissue.”

“The procedure is the closest that we can get to a precisely-targeted, flawless surgery for deep brain tumors,” Day said in a news release. “We are able to get to tumors in a much safer way that will put patients at less risk of brain damage and will preserve critical brain structures and tracts.”

Michael Klipper, Chairman of Voices Against Brain Cancer, an organization dedicated to brain cancer research and advocacy, is happy to learn about this breakthrough medical development. “Frequently, we hear of effective brain cancer treatments that are still only in the initial stages of being discovered and developed,” he says. “However, this breakthrough neurosurgery technique has been deemed successful and may be available to many brain tumor patients in the near future. This is extremely exciting for everyone here at VABC and in the general brain cancer community.”

VABC has a wide variety of initiatives in place for brain cancer research, awareness and support. The organization’s research grants fund cutting-edge research programs that will have a monumental impact on the diagnosis and treatment of brain cancer. VABC currently funds research at several esteemed institutions such as Brookhaven National Laboratory, Cleveland Clinic, Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Memorial Sloan-Kettering and Yale, to name a few.

VABC’s mission is to find a cure for brain cancer by advancing scientific research, increasing awareness within the medical community and supporting patients, their families and caregivers afflicted with this devastating disease.