First brain surgery with the use of an Excimer Laser

American doctors have performed a tremendous job saving the life of a 26 year old mechanic and father of a 3-year-old boy from NY. One of the most difficult operations has taken place in Manhattan, NY at Roosevelt Hospital last Tuesday. The operation featured a Japanese invention, the excimer laser, which was allowed to be used only once in the US by the Food and Drug Administration.

Mr. Ratuszny is a divorced 26 year old man, who has a 3 year old son to take care of and he hasn't got time to die. He has a giant aneurysm in his head, this means that an artery has become so big that it was about to explode, and this could lead to devastating consequences. In order to avoid this Dr. Langer got permission from the Food and Drug Administration to use the excimer laser and the technology for operating with this laser, developed by the Dutch neurosurgeon Cornelius Tulleken.

Complications of this giant aneurysm in the patient's head could be avoided only by building a bypass around the ballooning, by using a vein taken from Mr. Ratuszny's leg; however the cut off artery in the head should be clamped at the same time. This could anyways lead to other complications, because the brain won't get its blood flow.

And here is where the laser came in. This device can be used in limited spaces. The doctors decided that they won't proceed the standard way: cut off a piece of artery, clamp it and saw the bypass vein to it. They would first saw the vein and afterwards, make a new hole for a new blood flow. In such a way they were supposed to avoid the risk of cutting out the blood flow to the brain.

This operation lasted over eight hours and until the last moment, i.e. the moment of awakening, the doctors were still not sure if the operation has ran successfully. Doctors say that sometimes even if the operation ran perfectly, there could appear complications when the patient wakes up. This time the surgeons predicted slight problems in speech and they occurred indeed but they were visible only on the first day after operation.

Anyways, the doctors remain optimistic, and they say that Mr. Ratuszny will be able to get back to work within a month and he will still be the father to his boy for the rest of his long life. This is what contemporary gadgets are able to do: they not just entertain us, but also save lives.

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