The Swiss cure brain tumors the easy way

[annod]

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/Home/Archiv ... cid=655182

Non-invasive brain surgery proves successful

Not many patients can imagine having a glass of champagne with their surgeons straight after brain surgery but that is exactly what is happening at a Zurich hospital.
Swiss doctors have successfully carried out the world's first non-invasive brain surgery with use of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU).

Ten adult patients, who were awake during the revolutionary painless procedure, have been treated at University Children's Hospital Zurich since September 2008 as part of a clinical study. The results were published this week.

All interventions were completed successfully and without complications under the direction of professors Daniel Jeanmonod and Ernst Martin.

"This fully non-invasive procedure opens new horizons for neurosurgery and the treatment of different neurological brain disorders," Ernst Martin, director of the hospital's Magnetic Resonance Centre told swissinfo.ch.

The list of diseases and conditions which could be treated with this safe and effective technique includes Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, epilepsy, brain tumour and stroke.


Projected pain
Martin and Jeanmonod have been working on patients with neuropathic pain due to functional brain disorders. Specifically, they are people who experienced pain in amputated or paralysed parts of the body.

"The origin of the pain does not exist anymore but the brain projects the pain so that is why we operate on the brain," Martin explained. The patients have all remained pain-free since their operations.

HIFU has been used for some years in the treatment of uterine fibroids and tumours of the prostate gland. The ultrasound beams heat up the problem area, creating a lesion and rendering it inactive.
This is the first time that the technique has been applied to the brain through the intact skull for non-invasive neurosurgery.


Breakthrough
"A major breakthrough was the MR guidance – that is image guidance of the operative process by magnetic resonance imaging and also magnetic resonance thermometry, where we get thermo maps and can see exactly the temperature development at the spot where we operate," Martin explained.

It is common knowledge that ultrasound does not go through the skull because bone absorbs the waves. But Martin, Jeanmonod and their team managed to overcome this obstacle by creating a helmet-like hemisphere with 1,024 transducers, which can each be individually set, beaming separately into the skull.

The benefits are enormous. "We avoid the risk of bleeding, we do not harm anything on the brain, there is no intervention on the brain other than the focal spot and we have no risk of infection."

Each beaming session lasts ten to 20 seconds with breaks of several minutes in between, building up the temperature step by step.

Towards the end some patients experienced vertigo, light headedness or stinging sensations but only during the beaming sessions. The whole procedure lasts several hours and the patient is awake and fully conscious throughout.


New horizons
The Zurich breakthrough opens up a wide field of potential applications for HIFU brain surgery.

Various groups, mainly in North America, are close to beginning other HIFU surgery clinical trials on humans for a range of diseases and conditions, including brain tumours, stroke and neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimers.

Meanwhile the Zurich team will carry on with clinical trials on pain disorders, but also move on in the coming months to movement disorders, including tremor and Parkinson's as well as epilepsy.

Clare O'Dea, swissinfo.ch


I came back to edit because the link for the story had changed.

[rabihorcada]

I'm starting to wonder, what is your trip with this HIFU obsession? Maybe you are just doing a bit of advertising??
I feel at this point that you have now informed us about this treatment, and your proselytizing about it is getting a bit old.

[annod]

I am overjoyed at the success that my husband had using HIFU, so I wanted to tell people about how easy it is, a one time visit for a couple hours and no side effects......but people are throwing sticks at me on the other thread....so I want to show them that HIFU is real, it's not some "magic expensive" cure.

You could call it advertising, but I certainly don't get paid or acknowledged by the HIFU company--but there are men who have also had HIFU and they send me emails letting me know how happy they are.

I call it knowledge, doesn't everyone want to learn about what is going on in the world? Wouldn't we like to see this in America?

[rabihorcada]

This forum is about Puerto Vallarta. You have already given us the information, and now you are posting basically the same information all over again as if we missed it the first time. We generally try not to waste people's time here with repeat announcements or info, as most of us are way too busy for that, and it is rather insulting to be treated like we are somewhat dense in the brain.

Actually, we may qualify for hardheadedness and being somewhat crazy, but I doubt that hifu will cure our insanity for us. You can come back with your hifu when you get the cure for our madness, ok?

[ELLABEAR]

For the record, if you ever find a cure for crazay........I don't want no part of it.

[rabihorcada]

Actually, I was just trying to give this person an impossible task to keep them occupied for a while....

[jrojeff]

I have a sure cure for madness, drink when you feel sober