US doctor removes terminal brain tumour using ‘magic eraser’
By ANIWednesday, June 9, 2010
Kuala Lumpur, June 9 (ANI): A US doctor has successfully removed a terminal brain tumour from a little boy’s brain stem by using a “magic eraser”.
According to Xinhua, Saint John’s Health Centre in Santa Monica near Los Angeles revealed that doctor Amin Kassam used the device, called a Nico Myriad, to remove the tumour from a Belgian boy’s brain system, reports the Star Online.
The hospital revealed that the boy, identified only as Tristan, was facing certain death from a chordoma, a rare, malignant brain tumour, which had wrapped around the 4-year-old’s brain stem, making it impossible to use normal surgical techniques.
Kassam went to Belgium with the new device, which is described as an automated device that can cut the tumour up into microscopic strands without producing heat.
The Myriad device was introduced to the United States about a year ago, and Kassam is one of the few neurosurgeons trained to use it.
The device has a bendable cutting tip that allows surgeons to access hard-to-reach tumour sites, and the child’s tumour removal was performed through the child’s nostril, taking a team of surgeons 13 hours.
The “magic eraser” provides precise tissue shaving on or near critical body parts, like blood vessels and nerves, and also vacuums tumour tissue into a collection chamber for laboratory evaluation, the hospital said.
Although chordomas are slow growing, they can cause pain, paralysis, problems with vision, swallowing and death. (ANI)
