Researchers at Barrow Neurological Institute (St. Joseph’s Hospital) and the Montreal Neurological Institute recently carried out a pilot study which suggests that a certain type of MRI scanning can proactively detect whether a patient is failing brain tumor treatment. It assesses the response before symptoms appear. Patients with recurring malignant brain tumors received scans through an imaging device known as MR spectroscopy. This device identifies metabolic changes. The study concluded that the use of metabolic imaging can identify chemical changes earlier than the technology of structural imaging such as CT scan or a conventional MRI. This imaging can be done frequently. It is non-invasive and poses no radiation hazards.

In a six hour surgery, doctors in the Sir Gangaram hospital in India have removed what might possibly be the world’s largest brain tumour from the skull of a middle-aged woman.

Review of literature shows that the intracranial tumour measuring 16cmx10cmx8cm is possibly the world’s largest such tumour, Dr. Manish Vaish, part of the neuro-surgery team which carried out the operation told reporters.

The tumour was extending onto both sides of the brain and infiltrating and totally obstructing the main drainage channel of the blood from the brain.

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