Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy (LITT) - Grace's Story

http://www.mmc.org/neuro - MMC is the first hospital in the state of Maine to perform Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy (LITT) to precisely target tumor tissue in patients with brain tumors, and even cure patients with epilepsy. Watch this video to see how Grace’s life has changed dramatically with this innovative procedure.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

GRACE: When I was in kindergarten
I noticed that I would blank out,
not really understand what was going on,
but then, I'd come right back to it.

As I got older, it was just really bad.
When I would have the seizures,
it was anywhere between none a day
and then sometimes, I could have like 10-15.

I couldn't go to school because I couldn't
comprehend anything that was going on.
We found out that it was a vascular tumor,
benign tumor.

It just got to that point where it was like,
I don't want to deal with this any more.
So then, when they told me about the surgery,
I was like, yes, please!

DR. ANAND RUGHANI: What a seizure is,
is when neurons in the brain
start to fire abnormally.

What we see here is a little spot
that doesn't belong there.
And that is what we suspect
is causing seizures.

What we can do here,
we can put a probe down into that spot
and in an MRI scan, use a laser to burn that
part of the brain.

The incision is going to be just a few millimeters
instead of a big incision.

The recovery can be a lot quicker too because
of that. So, one night in the hospital
instead of 2 or 3 nights in the hospital.
They're taking a shower the next morning.

About 60-80% of patients who have this procedure
will be seizure-free after one year.

GRACE: I actually haven't had any.
All I can say is it's really, really nice.

It was my experience as a patient
that really sparked my interest for radiology.
I'm a student at SMCC in the radiography program
and I'm also working as an MRI tech assistant
at Maine Med.

I'm in school and I'm doing well.
And I have a job.
I'm definitely on a healthier path.
Yeah, I'm happy.