Brain Surgery News and Research

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Researchers receive $3M R01 award to test new approach to treating brain tumors

With a five-year, $3 million R01 award from the National Institutes of Health, through the National Cancer Institute, a team of researchers led by Gregory Fischer, PhD, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and robotics engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and director of WPI's Automation and Interventional Medicine Laboratory, will test a new, minimally invasive approach to treating brain tumors that promises to accurately destroy malignant tissue while leaving surrounding tissue unaffected.

30 Aug 2013

New technique to accommodate challenges inherent in brain-implantation technology

On August 20, JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments will publish a technique from the Capadona Lab at Case Western Reserve University to accommodate two challenges inherent in brain-implantation technology, gauging the property changes that occur during implantation and measuring on a micro-scale.

21 Aug 2013

NIH awards grant to FDA-approved clinical trial of auditory brainstem implant in children

House Research Institute (HRI) and Children's Hospital Los Angeles Children's Hospital) announced today final approval of grant funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute on Deafness and Communications Disorders (NIDCD) for a major five-year, FDA-approved clinical trial of the auditory brainstem implant (ABI) in children.

21 Aug 2013

Biodegradable surgical sutures could treat brain infections

A plastic material already used in absorbable surgical sutures and other medical devices shows promise for continuous administration of antibiotics to patients with brain infections, scientists are reporting in a new study. Use of the material, placed directly on the brain's surface, could reduce the need for weeks of costly hospital stays now required for such treatment, they say in the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience.

8 Aug 2013

Researchers find new way to help surgeons more accurately plan for epilepsy surgery

A brain imaging research team led by Simon Fraser University neuroscientist Dr. Ryan D'Arcy has found a new way to help surgeons more accurately plan for surgical treatment in epilepsy.

1 Aug 2013

Growing brain aneurysms 12 times more likely to burst, says new UCLA study

Brain aneurysms of all sizes—even small ones no larger than a pea—are up to 12 times more likely to rupture if they are growing, according to a new UCLA study.

3 Jul 2013

New minimally invasive surgery for epilepsy offers quicker recuperation time for patients

A new minimally invasive laser-based tool for epilepsy surgery offers a quicker recuperation time for patients than major surgery, Mayo Clinic researchers report. The research is ongoing, but preliminary results were recently presented at the American Academy of Neurology.

6 Jun 2013

Landmark study reveals new way to treat strokes

University of Leicester researchers have contributed to a landmark study which has revealed a new way to treat strokes caused by bleeding inside the brain.

30 May 2013

Combination of EEG and fMRI leads to improved treatment of patients with epilepsy

New techniques in imaging of brain activity developed by Jean Gotman, from McGill University's Montreal Neurological Institute, and his colleagues lead to improved treatment of patients suffering from epilepsy.

24 May 2013

Non-invasive brain surgery: an interview with Dr Andres Lozano, University of Toronto

MR-guided focused ultrasound is a new technique that involves focusing 1024 beams of ultrasound through the skull to a focal point in the brain, very much like using the sun and a magnifying glass to burn a hole in a sheet of paper.

22 Apr 2013

fMRI: A non-invasive tool to map critical areas of brain before surgery

A new functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique may provide neurosurgeons with a non-invasive tool to help in mapping critical areas of the brain before surgery, reports a study in the April issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

9 Apr 2013

Low T3 syndrome predicts adverse clinical outcomes and depressive symptoms

In a study of 90 patients undergoing surgery for brain tumor, researchers in Lithuania and the United States have discovered that the finding of low T3 (triiodothyronine) syndrome is predictive of unfavorable clinical outcomes and depressive symptoms.

14 Mar 2013

Overall risk of infection associated with most neuroangiographic procedures is very low

Patients undergoing cerebral angiography and neurointerventional procedures on the brain are at very low risk of infection-even without preventive antibiotics, reports a study in the March issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

5 Mar 2013

Researchers uncover neurological basis of speech motor control

A team of researchers at UC San Francisco has uncovered the neurological basis of speech motor control, the complex coordinated activity of tiny brain regions that controls our lips, jaw, tongue and larynx as we speak.

21 Feb 2013

DESI technique identifies cancer type, grade and tumor margins in brain surgery patients

A new tool that could allow for faster, more comprehensive testing of brain tissue during surgery successfully identified the cancer type, grade and tumor margins in five brain surgery patients, according to a Purdue University and Brigham and Women's Hospital study.

11 Jan 2013

Special supplement to Neurosurgery presents updates on emerging technologies for brain surgery

Robotic technologies have the potential to help neurosurgeons perform precise, technically demanding operations, together with virtual reality environments to help them navigate through the brain, according to a special supplement to Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

21 Dec 2012

Radical surgery has lasting benefits for epileptic children

Hemispherectomy in children with medically refractory epilepsy offers a high rate of long-term seizure control, report US researchers.

20 Dec 2012

Patients achieve favorable seizure outcomes after resective epilepsy surgery

Brain surgery for certain difficult forms of epilepsy often reduces or eliminates seizures for more than 15 years after the procedure, according to new research by neurologists at Henry Ford Hospital.

19 Dec 2012

New technology allows noninvasive SpHb assessments for children undergoing brain surgery

For children undergoing brain surgery, a new technology allows noninvasive, continuous monitoring of blood hemoglobin levels, according to a study in the December issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).

6 Dec 2012

Researchers discover new cause of hydrocephalus

Researchers at the University of Iowa have discovered a new cause of hydrocephalus, a devastating neurological disorder that affects between one and three of every 1,000 babies born. Working in mice, the researchers identified a cell signaling defect, which disrupts immature brain cells involved in normal brain development.

20 Nov 2012