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Laser Surgery
By
Tom Quirk |
 Scituate
- On December
12, 2006 at Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan, the first U.S.
citizen underwent an excimer laser procedure to treat a
giant brain aneurysm. A three-inch section of artery had
ballooned to many times its size and coiled to form a mass
the size of a golf ball. Too large to clip or coil, it
normally would involve attaching a leg vein to the clamped
artery and risking a stroke.
Often this works well because other arteries can provide
working detours. This patient didn’t have them.
The neurosurgeon clamps off the artery, cuts into it and
sews on the vein; clamp, cut, sew. Here the surgeon sews on
the vein and makes the hole with the excimer laser from the
inside; sew then cut.
This technique has not been approved in the US. Devised by a
Dutch neurosurgeon, Dr. Cornelius Tullekin, this procedure
has been used on 300 patients in Europe. Laser techniques,
costing $500,000, may make surgery on otherwise inoperable
brain aneurysm, possible. Before approval is given,
comparative studies must be completed at several US medical
centers.
The original plan was to postpone the procedure until the
FDA approved study. However, the aneurysm grew rapidly and
the FDA allowed Dr. Langer to use this device, this one
time.
Dr. Tullekin participated with Dr. David Langer in this
surgery. The patient was awakened after nine hours under
anesthesia and after a few days his initial problems
diminished, and within three days was greeting visitors and
eager to go home, see his son and return to work.
To view a 3:57 minute video clip, visit the Brain Aneurysm
Foundation’s website www. bafound.org and click on “Rescuing
a Brain.”
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About The
Author
For more information, you may contact Tom Quirk at (781)
545-2300 or via email at tfquirk@ aol.com. For more
information on brain aneurysms, please visit the Brain
Aneurysm Foundation’s web site at www.bafound.org.
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