Robot assisted laser-interstitial thermal therapy with iSYS1 and Visualase: how I do it.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Laser-interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) is an ablative treatment based on a surgically implanted laser-emitting catheter to induce a focal ablation of the pathological tissue. The main indications in neurosurgery are primary brain tumors, metastases, radiation necrosis, and pediatric brain tumors. Several approaches have been proposed to implant the laser-emitting catheter, both in frameless and frame-based conditions. METHODS: We report our approach for Robot assisted laser-interstitial thermal therapy of brain lesions with iSYS1 and Visualase (Medtronic). CONCLUSIONS: iSYS1 represents a significant adjunct to LITT procedures and may be safely implemented in routine laser-catheter positioning.