Awake

OR-Live.com broadcast December 13th @ 6:00 PM CST from Trinity Mother Frances Neuroscience Institute, Tyler, TX

On December 13 at 6 p.m. Central Time, Trinity Mother Frances will host a live webcast of a neurosurgical procedure during which a pituitary brain tumor will be removed through a patient’s nasal cavity. Sabatino Bianco, MD, a Trinity Clinic neurosurgeon and the Director of the Trinity Mother Frances Neuroscience Institute, will perform an endoscopic transsphenoidal hypophysectomy (ETH), which eliminates the need for incisions and removal of the nasal septum and/or nasal turbinates.
Victor Williams, MD, also a Trinity Clinic neurosurgeon, will serve as moderator of the webcast.

“This technique is offered by very few neuroscience centers in the world,” said Dr. Bianco. “In order to perform this operation, a neurosurgeon must go through a long learning curve and have access to specialized endoscopic instrumentation and navigational system technology. The pain, recovery time and travel have all been reduced for our patients. We are very excited.”

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Jeff Heatherington was wide awake recently, when a neurosurgeon removed a piece of his skull in order to extract a brain tumour. Visit thestar.com for the latest News headlines, Sports, Entertainment and more from the voice of the GTA.

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Pt. with brain tumor being operated while awake. This is done by me(Dr.P.K.Jha, Dharmshila Hospital, Delhi) , in order to ensure that the vital brain functions like speech and limb movements are not damaged while the tumor is still being removed. Brain receives pain, but it does not have pain sensations itself! For further information mail at drpankajjha@gmail.com. Visti me at www.drpkjha.com

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Kendall Lee, M.D., describes deep brain stimulation surgery, and how it is is typically done with patients who remain awake, so neurological functions can be measured and maintained.

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Imagine waking up right in the middle of surgery. It might sound like a nightmare, but some surgeons and their patients actually prefer it. It’s a technique called “awake brain surgery” and it’s proving to be very effective.

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Dr. Michele Aizenberg explains how keeping a patient awake during part of a brain tumor removal can help in preserving “eloquent” brain functions such as speech and movement. Dr. Aizenberg performs awake craniotomy surgery at The Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. For more information, call 1-800-922-0000 or visit www.nebraskamed.com.

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This is for the ABC show HOPKINS airing June 26th.

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Get a front-row seat to a high-risk brain tumor surgery with a twist:the patient must stay awake and alert to guide his doctors throught the surgery.

Source: National Geographic – 20 Feb 2008

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A toddler who can’t sleep undergoes risky, life-changing surgery. |

Not long ago, saying goodnight to his mom and dad was nearly impossible for 3-year-old Rhett Lamb. In a case that baffled doctors, Rhett was awake nearly 24 hours a day.

“His body would give out but his mind wouldn’t; he’d still be awake,” said Rhett’s mom, Shannon Lamb. “He’d still be alert. It was extremely scary.”

One of the side effects of Rhett’s lack of sleep was bad behavior.

“He was in a bad mood all the time,” Lamb said. “He couldn’t play, he didn’t interact with other children. His frustration level was so high, and it just kept getting worse and worse and worse. He couldn’t communicate with anyone. It was heartbreaking.”

Rhett’s temper got so bad he would hit his mother, even giving her black eyes.

“He would hit you, he would bite you, he would head butt you and anything else around him, and you didn’t know from one minute to the next what was going to happen,” she said.

Rhett’s dad David Lamb said, “It was like he was losing his mind and there was nothing we could do to help him.”

The Lambs, who live in St. Petersburg, Fla., arranged opposite work shifts so one of them could stay home and take care of Rhett.

“You get to the point where you can’t function anymore and you can’t think straight, and you get up in the morning and you take a shower to go to work and you drive to work and you’re a robot,” Shannon Lamb said. “You are an absolute robot. And then you dread coming home ’cause you know it’s the same thing.”

CONTINUE THE STORY : http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/story?id=6711810&page=1

[ JANUARY 2009 ]

The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep | RARE DISORDER & How it Was Cured | ABC News

The Mystery of the SLEEPLESS LITTLE BOY | ABC News

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Mather-Licht had a brain tumor, known as a glioma, situated above his left ear. Not only was it causing severe headaches, which he had attributed to everyday stress, but the tumor was pressing on the area of the brain that controls the ability to read and speak. It needed to come out.

Because of his age, Mather-Licht’s doctors suspected that his tumor was benign. But they needed a biopsy to make sure, and the tumor needed to come out.

Because the tumor was located in a very delicate area of the brain, his surgeon recommended a procedure called “awake craniotomy with mapping.” It’s much like standard brain surgery, with one critical difference: The patient is awake.

The brain is a map, said Mather-Licht’s neurosurgeon, Dr. Aaron Cohen of Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. Different areas help us read, walk, talk, even cry and smile.

So if a tumor is located in a crucial part of the brain, as in this case, doctors perform surgery on patients who are awake in order to see what functions the surgeon may be affecting while eradicating the tumor.
CNN was allowed to be present during the surgery.

During the procedure Mather-Licht, was heavily sedated but remained conscious so Cohen could talk to him while mapping the brain’s sensors. Once Mather-Licht’s skull cap — a large chunk of bone from his head — was removed, he remained alert even though his brain was fully exposed.

By communicating with the patient as he gently touched the brain with electrical probes, Cohen could tell what sections were sensitive and needed to be avoided.

Mather-Licht remained attentive through the procedure, actually reading a book by Kurt Vonnegut aloud. If Cohen pressed on a sensitive region, Mather-Licht’s reading was affected, which let the neurosurgeon know it was an area to avoid.

The mapping alone took a couple of hours. Based on the information entered into a computer during mapping, the “hot spots” or risky areas, were displayed on a monitor. Once mapping was complete, Cohen took a paper list of groups of letters that represented basic brain functions, such as expression and movement.

With a pair of scissors, a nurse cut out the letters that corresponded to Mather-Licht’s “hot spots.” Cohen then placed the lettered pieces of paper directly on Mather-Licht’s brain, distinctly identifying the areas of risk. Once those were marked, he opened the brain’s outer membrane and, layer by layer, removed the tumor. Mather-Licht felt no pain — the brain itself has no pain receptors.

The entire procedure lasted about five hours. After the skull fragment was put back in place, Mather-Licht was wheeled into his hospital room, still conscious, but exhausted.

It took Mather-Licht about a week and a half to recover. Most patients stay only a few days in the hospital. But because his tumor was relatively large, his recovery took longer.

At first he had difficulty speaking, mini-seizures and trouble reading. Little by little, as his brain healed, he regained all his functions. And the best news was that his tumor was benign, which meant he wouldn’t need chemotherapy or radiation.

Source CNN, Aug, 2008

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