http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Quebec+surgeon+performs+breakthrough+bra
in+surgery/4597170/story.html
Quebec surgeon performs breakthrough brain surgery
By Marianne White, Postmedia News April 11, 2011 


Dr. David Fortin recently performed a unique surgery in Canada. He
completely removed a brain tumour from a patient by using a surgical robotic
arm along with 3D magnetic resonance images. Dr Fortin is shown during
surgery at Sherbrooke's University Hospital.
 
Photograph by: Handout, CHUS - STIC/FMS
 

QUEBEC - In a Canadian first, a Quebec neurosurgeon recently managed to
completely remove a brain tumour from a patient using a robotic arm and 3D
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
 

The groundbreaking surgery was performed last fall by Dr. David Fortin at
Sherbrooke's University Hospital (CHUS). Fortin said Monday he waited until
now to make the surgery public to make sure the patient had fully recovered.
 

He has operated since on four other patients with the robotic surgical arm,
known as Rosa and produced by the French company Medtech.
 

"This acts as a third arm, a very precise and reliable one, for the
neurosurgeon," said Fortin in a telephone interview from Sherbrooke.
 

The robotic arm helps ensure the safety of prolonged movements during the
surgery, thus making it more efficient than a human arm that suffers from
fatigue, Fortin noted. He added the robotic arm is easy to use and is also
less invasive for the patient.
 

"Technologies like the robotic arm help improve the quantity of tumour we
can extract while preserving the patient's quality of life after the
surgery," Fortin said.
 

Fortin used the robotic arm last fall along with tri-dimensional MRI that
generates images showing the detailed circuitry of the brain. This allowed
the surgeon to have real-time information about the brain.
 

Fortin also added the patient was woken up at one point during the surgery
to stimulate the brain.
 

"It's the combination of those three techniques that allowed us to
completely remove the tumour and made the surgery unique," he said, noting a
"classic" surgery would have only allowed the surgeon to remove half of the
tumour for that first patient.
 

Fortin said this technology is part of a new tailored therapy approach and
will allow surgeons to get to tumours that previously were believed to be
inoperable.
 

Sherbrooke is the second hospital in North America to use the Rosa
technology, after a hospital in Cleveland, Ohio.
 

Fortin said he is testing the robotic arm, worth $600,000, and will conduct
a series of 15 operations with it before next fall. Depending on the
results, Fortin and the hospital will decide whether it the facility buys
the new technology.
 

Fortin heads the neuro-oncology clinic at Sherbrooke's CHUS and holds the
Canadian Chair for the Treatment of Brain Cancer. His research aims to
prolong the lives of people with this type of incurable cancer.
 

He has developed a unique technique to administer cancer-fighting
medications that are able to reach the brain tumour in sufficient quantities
to be effective.
 

Each year, some 2,500 Canadians are diagnosed with brain cancer, a highly
aggressive form of cancer.
 

A video of Fortin's surgery is available at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDCAbtYbByc
 

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Twitter.com/whitma
 
C Copyright (c) Postmedia News


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