Computer Guides Laser Beams to Brain Tumors

In a computer-assisted update of a 40-year-old technique, neurosurgeons at the Mayo Clinic are using three-dimensional “road maps” to navigate deep into a patient’s brain during surgery and pinpoint tumors that can be vaporized with lasers.

“I believe this technique is going to change neurosurgery,” Dr. Patrick J. Kelly, who developed the procedure and has performed more than 100 computer-assisted operations since July, said Saturday.

The use of computers to locate tumors and other disorders in the brain may even lead to the introduction of robots in the operating room, Kelly said.

The method relies on a computer to guide a laser beam more precisely than it would be possible to do manually.

Kelly uses what is known as stereotaxi, locating specific points within the brain by determining where straight lines would intersect if drawn from three points on the skull. The technique has been used in surgery for 40 years, but was never assisted by computers.

“There is no doubt that a surgeon can do a safer and more thorough job removing tumors deep in the brain with this system than with free-hand techniques alone,” Kelly said.

Although the technique “is not curing people with malignant tumors, we are removing a significant amount of tumor mass and relieving pressure in the brain,” he said.