World first: Lasers used in keyhole surgery for brain cancer

PARIS (AFP) - In a ground-breaking advance, French neurosurgeons on Friday said they had successfully treated brain tumours through ultra-keyhole surgery, using a tiny fibre-optic laser to destroy cancerous cells.

Alexandre Carpentier of the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in Paris said the exploit was “a world-first” in its use of multiple advanced techniques and of local anaesthesia rather than general sedation. So far, eight volunteers have been treated in the pilot programme, launched December 2006, Carpentier told AFP.

“They were suffering from metastasing brain tumours caused by various cancers, mainly lung and breast cancer that failed to respond to conventional treatment and were otherwise inoperable,” he said.

Doctors had given the volunteers only three months left to live, on average.