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Neurosurgeons Use MRI-Guided Lasers To Destroy Tumors
breadboy21 writes "In the seemingly perpetual battle to rid this planet of cancer, a team of neurosurgeons from Washington University are using a new MRI-guided high-intensity laser probe to 'cook' brain tumors that would otherwise be completely inoperable. According to Dr. Eric C. Leuthardt, this procedure 'offers hope to certain patients who had few or no options before,' with the laser baking the cancer cells deep within the brain while leaving the good tissue around it unmarred. The best part, however, is that this is already moving beyond the laboratory, with a pair of doctors at Barnes-Jewish Hospital using it successfully on a patient last month. Regrettably, just three hospitals at the moment are equipped with the Monteris AutoLITT device, but if we know anything about anything related to lasers, it'll be everywhere in no time flat."
Many heart problems can be solved through prevention; sadly, the same cannot be said for many neurological conditions.
but it isn't the major killer worldwide,
Yeah, that's why in the very last paragraph of the linked page you provided it's listed as the #1 killer worldwide.
As a second year med student please take some advice from this attending physician: while there are certain ways in which the data is sliced demographically that ends up presenting other pathologies as number one, the overall aggregate data clearly states that heart disease is #1 worldwide with 7.2 million cases per year. Right there at the bottom of the page where it says "World". Picking and choosing data is an error that is committed very often nowadays - people try to create "meta-analyses" that demonstrate their pet theory but conveniently leave out all the studies that fail to support their theories. This is bad science. Don't do it. Either look at all of the data, or make sure that have have the right tools to evaluate your special subset of data in the context of the big picture.
I agree that stenting is a stop-gap at best, and long term patient compliance with CAD medications will always be a challenge. The future, as you say, lies in prevention and raising awareness of the real causes of CAD: Smoking, sedentarism/obesity, diet and lastly genetics.
Good luck in your studies.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.