Laser ablation is a minimally invasive treatment for brain tumors and epilepsy. It can give patients more treatment options if they are not eligible for surgery or radiation therapy.

Laser ablation uses carefully targeted laser energy to destroy parts of the brain that are cancerous or cause seizures. It has a faster recovery time than open brain surgeries, allowing you to get back to activities you love quickly.

Who Is a Candidate?

Laser ablation can help many patients with neurological disorders who many not be candidates for surgery or radiation. Laser ablation may help treat:

• Brain tumors such as glioblastoma, astrocytomas, and metastatic cancer tumors
• Epilepsy
• Reactive necrosis

Your doctor will help you determine if you are a candidate for this treatment.

What to Expect

Before your laser ablation treatment, you will be placed under general anesthesia. You will sleep throughout your three to four hour procedure.

After you are asleep, your neurosurgeon makes a small incision in your scalp and drill a small hole through your skull. The location of this incision depends on where your tumor or center of your seizures is located.

The doctor will use magnetic resonance imaging to guide a long, thin needle-like device into the tumor or part of your brain needing treatment. A laser heats up the tip of the needle, which destroys the brain cells around it. Brain cells further away are not harmed. Your neurosurgeon will attempt to destroy as much of the tumor as possible.

When your treatment is complete, your neurosurgeon removes the needle and sews up the incision with just one or two stitches. You will wake up in the post-anesthesia care unit and should be able to return home the next day. Within a few days, you can return to all of your normal activities.

Why Choose Us?

Sylvester is an NCI-designated cancer center. The National Cancer Institute has recognized Sylvester for its outstanding work conducting research in its laboratories, treating patients in its clinics and hospitals, and reaching out to medically underserved communities with innovative prevention strategies.

Top-ranked neurosurgery team. Our neurosurgery program is nationally ranked among the best by U.S. News & World Report. We are the leaders in the treatment and diagnosis of neurological conditions. Our knowledge, expertise, and commitment to patient care have earned us our reputation as a world-class research and medical center. That means we provide state-of-the-art treatment as well as superior follow-up care.

Surgical expertise. We see more than 14,000 patients each year and perform more than 4,000 surgeries. Our experienced neurosurgeons are consistently pioneering new treatments. From minimally invasive spine surgeries to awake craniotomies, we offer unique surgeries you cannot find anywhere else in the region to treat your injuries and conditions.

Groundbreaking brain tumor treatment. Our neurology and neurosurgery experts make up one of the largest and most complete teams for brain tumor treatment in the United States. Through multi-disciplinary cooperation, our team employs state-of-the-art procedures like awake craniotomies. Also, our research has spawned promising treatments like the heat shock protein vaccine.