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Surgical Webcasts

Brain Tumor Surgery/GliaSite Radiation Therapy
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Methodist Healthcare hosted a live surgical Webcast at Methodist University Hospital Tuesday, February 8, 2005, 4 pm, showcasing a brain surgery that targets radiation directly to a tumor cavity. The Webcast featured Allen K. Sills, Jr., MD, neurosurgeon, Methodist University Hospital, as he performed a procedure using the GliaSite Radiation Therapy System (RTS). Frederick A. Boop, MD, Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery, LeBonheur Children's Medical Center will narrate the event.

In addition to watching Allen K. Sills, Jr., MD, perform live brain surgery; viewers learned more about GliaSite RTS and heard from a patient who was being treated with GliaSite RTS as a first-line approach to metastatic brain cancer.

The patient who was receiving GliaSite RTS during the live Webcast was part of a clinical study being led by Methodist University Hospital which was examining the effectiveness of using GliaSite as an approach to treating tumors that have spread to the brain from other parts of the body. The study involves 10 centers that will analyze the benefits of using the GliaSite RTS to treat patients with newly diagnosed metastatic brain cancer. Allen K. Sills, Jr., MD, along with Allen Redmond, RN, research coordinator, Memphis Regional Brain Tumor Center, wrote the clinical trial.

About the Procedure
The GliaSite Radiation Therapy System targets a tumor directly. A neurosurgeon removes the tumor, and places an uninflated GliaSite balloon catheter inside the empty space where the tumor once was. The other end of the catheter extends up through the skull and lies underneath the skin at the top of the patient's head. After the patient has recovered from surgery, Iotrex , a liquid radiation, and saline solution are injected into the balloon catheter. A radiation oncologist determines the amount of radiation the patient needs and that amount determines how long the inflated balloon catheter remains inside the tumor cavity. The length of treatment is usually between three to seven days. By placing the balloon catheter filled with the Iotrex solution within the area where the tumor once was, doctors can target radiation to the edges of the tumor cavity where cancer cells could still be present. Most patients do not experience any discomfort during this radiation treatment. Patients undergo the radiation treatment either in the hospital or through outpatient therapy.

Standard treatment for metastatic brain tumors involves surgery to remove the tumor followed by whole brain radiation therapy. The radiation is given over a ten to 12 day period to destroy tumors that can not be removed with surgery and any cancer cells that may be left after surgery. The FDA approved the use of GliaSite in 2001 following a National Cancer Institute (NCI) sponsored study that demonstrated a 52 percent survival rate one year following treatment in patients with recurrent tumors.

If all the cells are not killed, a tumor could come back and that is when a problem develops of how to treat that tumor. Those patients usually can not withstand another round of radiation without destroying the healthy tissue of the brain. By changing the way surgeons treat malignant tumors, Dr. Sills hopes to offer brain cancer patients better treatment by eliminating the chance of the tumor returning. The clinical trial he is leading is examining how GliaSite works as the first approach to treating metastatic brain cancer.

"The clinical outcomes with GliaSite to date have been positive, with an average survival rate of more than a year. We feel that using GliaSite as a first-line course of therapy for patients with metastatic tumors could improve the quality of life for patients who would otherwise undergo several weeks of external beam therapy," said Sills. "Our clinical study efforts are geared toward treating the patient to the best of our ability while maintaining the highest quality of life for that patient. I am hopeful that this study will provide evidence that patients with one or more metastatic tumors can also benefit from the more rapid and targeted GliaSite treatment."

Dr. Sills hopes to have 50 patients to follow for his study. Currently, doctors are following 14 patients. They will follow these patients for up to two years.

GliaSite offers patients numerous advantages. Benefits include:
  1. The highest dose of radiation is delivered directly to the area most likely to contain remaining cancer cells
  2. Only a small amount of healthy brain tissue is exposed to radiation
  3. Because damage to healthy tissue is minimized, GliaSite is an option for brain cancer patients who have already received radiation therapy
  4. Fewer side effects from the radiation
  5. Faster treatment. Three to five days of radiation therapy.
Other sites involved in this clinical trial include: Cleveland Clinic, Henry Ford Hospital, The University of Pennsylvania, Wake Forest University, Ohio State, Upstate New York University, The Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon and Carolina Neurosurgery in Charlotte in North Carolina.