Brain Surgery in a Day?

By Pamela Mortimer

The advances in medical technology never cease to astound. A new procedure pioneered by Dr. Gelareh Zadeh at Britain’s University College Hospital will allow patients with malignant tumors of the brain to be operated on without general anesthesia and therefore be able to leave the hospital as early as one day. Previously, patients were required to stay in the hospital for a week for doctors to monitor their recovery. Much of that time was to allow the patient to recover from the after effects of general anesthesia, which has been known to stay in the body for a period as long as six months or more. Dr. Zadeh is attempting to eliminate the additional recovery time.

Zadeh, 35, is one of the world’s few female surgeons specializing in malignant brain tumors as well as being Britain’s youngest female brain surgeon. Working with a team at University College Hospital, Dr. Zadeh has used a revolutionary new method in performing the life-threatening surgery. Instead of using a general anesthesia, which can be particularly harmful to patients with compromised health, Dr. Zadeh injects a local anesthesia into the scalp to "freeze" the area before making the incision into the skull. The local anesthesia allows the patient to remain awake.

"The fact the patient can be awake makes them feel a lot better after surgery and it makes it a lot easier for doctors to operate. It is also good for cancer patients who cannot tolerate a general anesthetic," Zadeh said. "Before, people would have to stay in for at least two days and sometimes up to a week. Deborah chatted to us all during the operation and after observing her and doing a scan we were happy to let her home to her family."

Dr. Zadeh refers to her first patient using this technique. 52-year-old businesswoman Deborah Calder had the operation in July has made a full recovery. Mrs. Calder, who had lung cancer before it spread to her brain, married her partner of 20 years only a few days after having the operation. She said, "When I first found out my cancer had spread to the brain I was really shocked and upset, especially as they couldn't say what my chances were."

"But they got me into surgery really quickly and Gelareh was almost like a friend to me. She is so caring, a really exceptional and special person. I trusted her totally and the whole team made me feel very safe."

"It was a bit strange at first when they started putting pins into my head but I knew that if anything went wrong then they would give me a general anesthetic. By the evening I was at home with my family having a cup of tea. There is no doubt this saved my life. It has given me a whole new lease of life."