Imaging aids brain tumour treatments

US surgeons say new imaging tools are improving their ability to remove all of a brain tumour without affecting vital brain functions like speech and movement, reports UPI.com.

Improved magnetic resonance imaging tools are helping them determine whether they've successfully gotten the entire tumour or need to go back and remove more.

Before, surgeons feared damaging key brain structures and often did not operate aggressively and had to leave traces of the tumours behind, the newspaper said.

The Detroit Free Press reveals that patients such as Donna Vinson of Sterling Heights are benefiting from the recent advances at Henry Ford Hospital's Hermelin Brain Tumour Centre.

Vinson, 53, had an aggressive brain tumour removed late last month and is recovering. The day before her 31 March surgery, she was eager to start her therapy. She even told doctors: “Let's get on with it” as her eyes welled up with tears.

The new imaging technology offers hope that she and other patients can live longer after surgery. Now only three in 10 patients survive five years after a brain cancer diagnosis. The prognosis is much worse for some tumours.