Medical technology that ‘cooks’ brain tumors is on display

Monteris Medical Inc. of Kalamazoo and Winnipeg, Canada, has honed a treatment for brain cancer that “cooks” brain tumors from the inside out. The laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) allows surgeons to steer the laser beam, monitor its effects, and save surrounding healthy tissue.

Monteris will be among 60 medical technology manufacturers from across the United States and around the globe presenting their technologies at AdvaMed 2011. AdvaMed 2011 is considered one of the premier MedTech conferences for CEOs, business executives, policy-makers, financiers, media, and industry stakeholders from around the world.

Company presentations to industry business leaders, investors and other strategic partners, will take place Sept. 26-28 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The event brings together the top investors and business development executives in the MedTech industry.

The LITT therapy was tested by physicians from the Burkhardt Brain Tumor Center at the Cleveland Clinic who were the first in the world to participate in the AutoLITT human clinical trial.

Patients being treated with LITT are placed under general anesthesia. A thin, high-intensity laser probe is inserted through a small hole in the skull, deep into the brain.

The tip of the probe emits laser energy sideways, heating and destroying brain tumor tissue in one direction while cooling to remove heat and protect normal tissue in neighboring areas.

Each burst of laser energy lasts from 30 seconds to a few minutes. The laser generates heat up to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, which is sufficient to coagulate and kill the tumor cells.  

On a computer screen, the surgeon monitors the tumor destruction as it occurs. Unlike conventional open surgery, this therapy is minimally invasive. It takes place with the patient in an MRI machine because the laser system is guided, positioned and monitored with MRI.

Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Source: Alicia Moran, AdvaMed