Focusing on You: New Options for Brain Tumor Patients
New technologies advance the removal of brain tumors
In this Focusing on You segment, Dr. Ricardo Komotar, neurosurgeon and director of the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center Brain Tumor Initiative, discusses a variety of treatment options for patients with benign and malignant brain tumors.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Intro:
Focusing On You, from your team of experts at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, South Florida’s only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center.
Andreina Molano:
I couldn’t be around anything sharp or anything. I wasn’t going crazy, but I thought I was going crazy. I went to some doctors and therapists and they told me that I had depression and anxiety. I had a feeling there was something else, and I thought it was a brain tumor, but I never really actually said it. I went to get my MRI. It all turned out to be that I had a brain tumor.
Dr. Komotar:
Her tumor was involving a part of the temporal lobe that controls emotions, anger, hostility, temperament. Brain tumors, regardless of being benign or malignant, are relatively rare in the general population. If you’re going to be treated, it should be by a specialist who treats only brain tumors due to their rarity.
Andreina Molano:
It was extremely hard taking in that information, kind of like I mentally blocked what was happening.
Dr. Komotar:
What makes Sylvester’s brain tumor program so special is the fact that it’s a comprehensive team-based approach.
Andreina Molano:
When I first met Dr. Komotar, he explained everything very thoroughly, nicely. I remember he gave me a hug. He was very calming and reassuring.
Dr. Komotar:
Here at Sylvester, we offer the latest cutting-edge technologies when it comes to brain tumor surgery. Some of the unique technologies that we offer are laser ablation for brain tumors, awake craniotomies for tumors that are located in very critical parts of the brain, minimally invasive cannular systems that allow us to access deep tumors without harming the rest of the brain, the ROSA robot, which allows precision biopsies and laser ablations, and endoscopic skull-based surgery that allows us to remove tumors through the nose rather than opening up the rest of the head, and finally, 5-ALA fluorescents, which allows the tumor to be visualized more completely.
Andreina Molano:
I did feel like I was in good hands and he definitely knew what he was talking about. I remember him telling me, “Thankfully, everything’s going to be okay. We’ll just get that out.”
Dr. Komotar:
Given her young age, good health and the appearance of the tumor, we operated on it to remove the tumor completely.
Andreina Molano:
I definitely feel so much better, though, than I did two years ago, three years ago. I’m pursuing my dream again to become a PA hopefully one day.
Dr. Komotar:
About a month after the surgery, Ms. Molano and her family sent me one of the most beautiful videos I’ve ever seen.
Andreina Molano:
Happy Thanksgiving, Dr. Komotar. I’m so thankful for you.
Andreina Molano:
What was my tumor now, I look at it and I make jokes, like, “There’s a whole in my head still,” but for sure, I was extremely grateful.
Tags: brain surgery, brain tumor care in Miami, Brain Tumor Initiative, Dr. Ricardo Komotar, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center
