A UK-based surgeon has developed a brand-new way to remove big brain tumours - the size of apples, through patients' eyebrows. According to the NHS, Dr. Anastasios Giamouriadis, a consultant neurosurgeon with NHS Grampian in Scotland, has used keyhole surgery, which leaves significantly less scarring than regular craniotomies.

According to Dr. Giamouriadis, his team has already performed 48 such surgeries where he removed the tumour from the front of the brain, something that has never been done before, The Independent has reported. “I have modified and developed the technique with my team and we are operating on very large brain tumours in the front of the brain and as far back as the middle of the brain,” he explained. According to Dr. Giamouriadis, not only is the procedure less time-consuming, but it also allows faster healing and quick recovery.

Dr. Giamouradis says many of his patients have been able to leave the hospital a day later, which also has a positive impact on their mental health. "That makes a significant positive impact on the patient outcome. With normal, extensive craniotomies, the length of the operation is usually about eight hours and patients will spend days in the hospital,” he said.

“By doing this through the keyhole approach through the eyebrow, it is more challenging technically, but it takes probably half the time - if not less. The patient will go home the second day and be back to normal life on most occasions within a week or two,” Dr. Giamouriadis added.

According to Dr. Giamouriadis, the entire process of conducting surgery through the eyebrows is "more challenging technically," but the time it takes is possibly half of a regular surgical procedure to remove a tumour.

He recently conducted the procedure on Doreen Adams - a patient who had undergone an unsuccessful craniotomy. Adams says she did not face many of the usual after-effects of surgery.

"I felt great after the operation," she said. "I was left with a black eye, and it took a while for it to open, but that was all," Adams added.

Dr. Giamouriadis says he is hopeful he can one day use virtual reality to teach other surgeons how to perform the new improved procedure. He is also presently working with a team at the University of Aberdeen on the project and they are "very close" to having it ready.

"It's very challenging to train someone in real life with this operation," he explained.

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