New MRI/laser probe may help pinpoint, kill brain tumors
Gene Barnett, MD, of the Brain Tumor and Neuro-Oncology Center at Cleveland Clinic, is conducting research that uses laser and MRI technology to heat and kill brain tumors.
The device couples a laser probe with MRI to monitor the brain’s temperature. A probe of less than 1/4 inch in diameter is inserted through the brain into the tumor. The probe can reach tumors that are inoperable by traditional surgery, according to the researchers. Physicians steer and rotate a laser beam from the side of the probe’s tip. While the patient is in the MRI, the location of the laser is monitored, as well as the temperature of the tumor and healthy tissue.
“We monitor how much of the tumor is being killed and are able, by doing that, to maximally kill the tumor while sparing the healthy surrounding tissue,” Barnett said.
Since September 2008, Barnett and colleagues at Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland have tested the device in nine patients with recurrent glioblastoma. This past May, the FDA cleared the device for use outside the experimental setting.
However, the researchers cautioned that it’s not for everybody. They said that many brain tumors are too diffuse to benefit from a local therapy—either laser or traditional surgery. In addition, for tumors like glioblastoma, laser therapy will be used along with traditional chemotherapy and radiation.
The device couples a laser probe with MRI to monitor the brain’s temperature. A probe of less than 1/4 inch in diameter is inserted through the brain into the tumor. The probe can reach tumors that are inoperable by traditional surgery, according to the researchers. Physicians steer and rotate a laser beam from the side of the probe’s tip. While the patient is in the MRI, the location of the laser is monitored, as well as the temperature of the tumor and healthy tissue.
“We monitor how much of the tumor is being killed and are able, by doing that, to maximally kill the tumor while sparing the healthy surrounding tissue,” Barnett said.
Since September 2008, Barnett and colleagues at Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland have tested the device in nine patients with recurrent glioblastoma. This past May, the FDA cleared the device for use outside the experimental setting.
However, the researchers cautioned that it’s not for everybody. They said that many brain tumors are too diffuse to benefit from a local therapy—either laser or traditional surgery. In addition, for tumors like glioblastoma, laser therapy will be used along with traditional chemotherapy and radiation.