There was only a small and invisible scar left on the patient's eyelid, and the procedure was a success – doctors from the University Clinical Hospital in Białystok removed a brain tumor from a 71-year-old patient through the eye socket. Typically, in such situations, a several-centimeter incision is made in the skull.
The procedure was a success. The patient is getting ready to leave. He has a good mood and, most importantly, an appetite. – Plans: go to the house, eat pork chops – says Andrzej Witkowski, the patient. There are no contraindications to this, because Mr. Andrzej Witkowski underwent a serious minimally invasive surgery.
– He had no problems with major surgery, with a large incision, with a major procedure, so the low level of trauma of this procedure also allows us to shorten the hospitalization period in older patients, often with comorbidities – says Dr. Robert Chrzanowski from the Department of Neurosurgery at the University Clinical Hospital in Białystok.
Doctors simply removed the large white tumor behind the patient's eye through the eye socket. – Only three holes, because they entered through this eye, there was this tumor behind the eye and it was a threat to the eye – says Andrzej Witkowski.
It also posed a threat to the patient's brain. Traditionally, to get to the tumor, doctors would have had to make a large incision near Mr. Andrzej's ear. – I would have such a wound from the ear to the end, the whole operation would take longer before they could put it back together – continues Andrzej Witkowski.
Thanks to the surgery to remove the tumor using the shortest route, through the eye socket, this was not necessary.
– We perform surgery on a tumor that is intracranially located in the cerebral region, and the brain does not know about it in any way, because we do not need spatulas to hold it or move it away, the brain simply does not know about it and this is the small invasiveness – explains Dr. Hab. Tomasz Łysoń, head of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University Clinical Hospital in Białystok.
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A pioneering treatment
Minimally invasiveness is the future of medicine. For many years, doctors have been wondering how to operate on the brain and destroy tumors without damaging important structures. This can be done, for example, with a laser – the energy of a light beam focused on one point simply burns away cancerous lesions, sparing the surrounding area. We showed such pioneering procedures in “Fakty” TVN. This procedure in Białystok is also pioneering.
– As the doctor told me, this is the first procedure, well, someone has to be the first. I say: okay, if it's going to be easier for me, let it happen – says Andrzej Witkowski.
– I have no information that such operations have been performed in other places before. It seems to me that we may be the first in this case, we are absolutely prepared for it – says Dr. Hab. Tomasz Łysoń.
The trick is to ensure that the patient does not become disabled after surgery due to the procedure itself, and on the other hand, to carefully remove the cancerous tissue so that it does not grow back.
Main photo source: TVN24