The five year survival rate of deep-seated malignant brain tumours after surgery/radiotherapy is virtually 100% mortality. Special problems include:
Lesions often present late.
Position - lesion overlies vital structures, so complete surgical/radiotherapy lesion destruction can damage vital brain-stem functions.
Difficulty in differentiating normal brain from malignant lesions.
This study aimed to use the unique properties of the laser: (a) to minimise damage during surgical removal of deep-seated brain lesions by operating via fine optic fibres; and (b) to employ the propensity of certain lasers for absorption of (non toxic) dyes and absorption and induction of fluorescence in some brain substances, to differentiate borders of malignant and normal brain, for more complete tumour removal a fine laser endoscopic technique was devised for removal of brain lesions, which minimised thermal damage and shock waves. A compatible endoscopic fluoroscopic laser technique was developed to differentiate brain tumour from normal brain.