In a groundbreaking procedure, surgeons at the University of Maryland Medical Center have removed a large spinal tumor through a 19-year-old patient’s eye.
A large spinal tumor threatening the life of a young Maryland woman was recently removed through her eye in a groundbreaking procedure.
A thin tube with a light and camera — called an endoscope — was threaded through the 19-year-old’s eye socket to reach the cancerous growth. It took a team of doctors led by Mohammed Labib at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
“We used an incision in the conjunctiva and used that to approach the spinal cord by coming from the side below the eye and that allowed us to land directly on the tumor and remove the entire tumor…”
The patient Karla Flores went to the doctor after experiencing double vision. She was eventually diagnosed with a rare bone tumor called a chordoma, which was wrapped around her spine and spinal cord.
Dr. Labib says trying to reach the tumor from the back would have risked damaging her spinal cord. This new approach allowed them to avoid major blood vessels and key structures.
“She remained neurologically intact.”
But doctors discovered Flores also had a large chordoma wrapped around her brain stem. In all, she had three separate surgeries, as well as proton radiation therapy and now has no signs of cancer.
The transorbital approach has been used in the past for brain and sinus tumors, but Dr. Labib says this is the first time it’s ever been used to remove a spinal tumor.
Source: University of Maryland Medical Center
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