New surgery removes brain tumours via eyebrows

Pioneering new surgery to remove large brain tumours through the eyebrows has successfully taken place in Scotland.

This is the first time a surgery of this kind has been performed and has managed to remove tumours the size of large apples. According to medical professionals such as consultant neurosurgeon, Anastasios Giamouriadis, the adaptation of existing similar eyebrow techniques has now enabled surgeons to remove even more sizable growths in what is considered to be a “game changer” in the medical world. In comparison to other techniques used, this type of surgery carries fewer complications and leaves less scar tissue. It also has a shorter operating and recovery time. One patient whose tumour the size of a tennis ball was removed using this technique, described being discharged from hospital after only two days.

Eyebrow surgery to remove tumours is quick and with minimal scarring or complications

In typical surgery for patients with front cerebral tumours, a craniotomy is usally the chosen procecure which involves removing a large part of the skull and is a long, complicated process often lasting upto ten hours. During the procedure, healthy parts of the brain are exposed which can be more risky. In comparison, the latest innovation in surgery, the Modified Eyebrow Keyhole SupraOrbital Approach for Brain Tumours, leaves only a small scar and a black eye with a hospital stay of as little as 24 hours and a return to work scheduled for a few days time.

Traditional methods including craniotomies versus innovative eyebrow surgery – like “night and day”

Doreen Adams, 75 from Aberdeen has undergone two procedures to remove brain tumours and is therefore a fitting testament to the differences between the two surgical methods. She previously had a craniotomy and has recently undergone the latest eyebrow surgery. She described the contrast between the two as “night and day.” Doreen told BBC Scotland News: “You hear of these things, but no – going through your eyebrow? No – you just can’t think.” She added: “My tumour was like a tennis ball – how can you get that out of a small hair. In two days this man – this wonderful young man – is going to give me my life back. And that’s exactly what he’s gone and done. Quite incredible.”

Mr Giamouriadis also commented on the revolutionary success of the surgery: “I noticed over my career, especially during my training, that even when the operation goes really well without any complications it takes quite a significant time for the patients to recover,” he said to BBC Scotland News. He went on to describe the new process: “I didn’t invent this type of surgery, but I have modified it to give me more space, through the eyebrows, and it is allowing me to remove very big brain tumours.”

Scotland the first to use pioneering eyebrow surgery for removing such large brain tumours

For now, there is nowhere else in the world which is managing to use this technique or similar to remove tumours as large – a source of pride for Mr Giamouriadi and other medical professionals. They confidently affirm how the process is safe and quick and that for patients, their families and the NHS, it is hugely impacting in that trauma to the patient is minimal, recovery times are short and people can usually return promptly to normal life.

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