“Painting,” Seeing and Excising Glioblastomas

Intracranial robot prototype
There are three stories here about new neurosurgical techniques aimed at treating one of the deadliest cancers, glioblastomas. Researchers at the University of Maryland have developed a “minimally invasive neurosurgical robot” that allows a piece of memory shape wire to be inserted into a brain tumor and do the electrocauterizing from the inside out. Adding to the possibilities of a minimally invasive robot, scientists at the University of Washington have developed an single optical fiber endoscope and a “paint,” derived from scorpion venom, that make brain tumors easier to see. Among the implications of these minimally invasive tools is that, one day in a foreseeable future, even major brain surgery could be handled as an outpatient procedure. MORE
Image Credit: University of Maryland and NIBIB.nih.gov