A Mater neurosurgeon has used Australian-first robotic-guided laser technology to save the life of a Queensland woman with multiple brain tumours.
Evangeline Lim, 61, has been battling a rare type of lung cancer since 2016 and was referred to Mater Private Hospital Brisbane neurosurgeon Dr Sarah Olson after the cancer spread to her brain and began to affect her mobility.
Dr Olson said conventional brain surgery would likely have left Ms Lim in a wheelchair for the rest of her life – but a new advanced minimally invasive surgical system at Mater gave her hope of a making a full recovery.
The Visualase system uses live MRI tracking and robotic alignment technology to guide a fibre-optic laser probe to the site of a tumour.
The laser then kills the tumour by heating the tissue to around 60C, in a procedure known as laser interstitial thermal therapy (LiTT).
Mrs Lim, who works as an accountant, said she was amazed to be able to return to her Hope Island home just days after LiTT surgery destroyed her two brain tumours.
"Almost straight away I could feel the changes in the left side of my body – it was like magic," Mrs Lim said.
"Before having the surgery, my foot would drop when I walked.
"I had reduced my hours of work because using the computer was slow and difficult.
"Even walking up the stairs was so hard, and also everyday tasks such as cooking and cleaning.
"But now I am back to normal. The operation was life-changing."
Mater Private Hospital Brisbane was the first hospital in the southern hemisphere to adopt the US-developed Visualase LiTT system, which is also used to treat epilepsy patients as well as those with brain cancers.
Dr Olson said the technology allows surgical teams to insert a laser probe through a small skin incision
in the skull, without the need for highly invasive brain surgery.
Patient recovery times are faster and neurological complications are less common.
"Evangeline had terrible brain swelling related to the cancer metastasising in her motor area," Dr Olson said.
"Traditional surgery would have required a large opening in the skull and almost certainly would have made Evangeline weaker and unable to walk."
She said the LiTT procedure also stopped the need for Ms Lim to require steroid treatment, which would have affected her ongoing treatment for lung cancer.
The $1 million LITT equipment was funded by the community through Mater Foundation.
Mater Foundation Chief Executive Andrew Thomas said thanks to community donations, the purchase of new state-of-the-art medical equipment was able to improve patient care and outcomes.
"This would not have been possible without the generosity of kind-hearted Queenslanders," Mr Thomas said.
"This technology is making a positive impact on our patients, just like Evangeline."
How LiTT procedures work:
- LiTT is typically performed in an operating theatre equipped with an intraoperative MRI machine.
- The patient is under general anaesthesia and inside the MRI machine for most of the procedure, which takes about three hours.
- A special frame may be attached to the scalp to hold the head very still.
- The surgeon makes a small hole in the skull at a location that makes it easier to access the spot for treatment.
- Using a grid-like map called stereotactic navigation, the surgeon directs a needle-like fibre-optic laser probe toward the area in the brain where the problem lesion is located.
- The probe placement is confirmed by the MRI images.
- Laser heat (up to 138 degrees Fahrenheit) is delivered to the tip of the probe to destroy the abnormal tissue. The heat is monitored with MRI thermometry to avoid overheating the surrounding area.
- Once the area has been treated, the neurosurgeon removes the probe and the incision is closed with one or two stitches.
