A neurosurgeon at Vancouver General Hospital has become the first surgeon in Canada to use new robotic laser heat technology to destroy brain tumours and other abnormal growths inside the skull.

“It’s working great. There’s no doubt it kills the cancer cells you want it to kill, and patients are going home the next day instead of being in hospital for three to five days after conventional surgery,” said Dr. Brian Toyota, who has completed three cases in as many months.

The Winnipeg-developed technology, called NeuroBlate, is a less-invasive approach than craniotomy surgery, in which a piece of skull bone is removed to access the tumour and then replaced after the cancerous growth is cut out.

It is too soon to tell whether patients’ lives will be prolonged or saved after the NeuroBlate treatment. But Toyota said it is an easier option for patients and, as a result of an earlier story in The Vancouver Sun, he has been fielding calls from doctors and patients from across Canada inquiring about coming here.

But Toyota said he has to meet with ministry of health, hospital and health authority officials to figure out where to get the funding to handle more cases. The original technology and the first few cases were sponsored through a $350,000 donation from Eleni Skalbania, the former owner of the Wedgewood Hotel in Vancouver. She died just over a year ago as a result of lung cancer that had spread to her brain.

“It’s an important weapon in the treatment arsenal and it should be available to all Canadians,” Toyota said, adding that surgeons from Calgary, Montreal and Toronto have been in touch with him about their interest in learning about and acquiring the technology.

Toyota said since patients can be discharged so much sooner after being treated on the NeuroBlate, there are savings on hospital costs there. But the instruments require disposable tips which cost about $8,000, so it must be determined whether patients should pay for that or if hospital and health authority budgets should cover it.

Last week, VGH disclosed to The Vancouver Sun that prostate cancer patients were no longer being charged about $6,000 if they chose to have their prostate glands removed with robot-assisted technology. The matter arose when Health Canada reminded the hospital that under federal and provincial laws, patients are not supposed to be charged for medically necessary services. Otherwise, provinces risk penalties in the form of reductions in health care transfer payments.

Over the past two years, B.C. has lost about $500,000 in federal transfer payments, mostly because of charges billed to patients by private clinics charging facility fees.

Toyota said the technology is especially useful for inoperable tumours. An Alberta child with a brain tumour may be his fourth case but each one is determined on a “case by case basis.”

“It’s another option (besides surgery and radiation) for patients,” he said, adding that after burring a tiny hole in the skull, he inserts a laser probe, then steps on a foot pedal to deliver heat that destroys cancerous cells, all while sparing surrounding brain matter.

The hole in the skull is made in an operating room but patients are then transferred to an MRI suite so that Toyota can see, in real time, where to place the thermotherapy probe that heats up to 57 degrees Celsius.

The technology was developed by Monteris Medical, a privately held company.

About 3,000 Canadians (330 in B.C.) are diagnosed with brain and central nervous system cancers each year and 1,950 across Canada (250 in B.C.) die from them. According to the Canadian Cancer Registry, brain and central nervous system (spinal cord) cancers have five-year survival rates of 25 per cent.

Sun Health Issues Reporter

pfayerman@vancouversun.com