ANCONA – Virtual reality and the “awake” procedure to remove a brain tumor from a young patient operated on today in the Operating Block of the Marche University Hospital: the intervention scheduled in the Neurosurgery Division directed by Dr. Roberto Trignani, used a new digital technology that through virtual reality during the preoperative phase and during the “awake” phase (i.e. the awake operation) allows to optimize the management of anxiety, improve patient comfort and reduce the pharmacological intake.
The VR headset to operate on a patient with a brain tumor
Essentially virtual reality (VR) devices replace the real environment with a simulated one. Clinical studies have shown that this technology can represent an immersive and distracting experience for the patient capable of inducing a state of relaxation and shifting attention away from sources of emotional stress.
allows to optimize the resection of brain tumors in functional areas of the brain with preservation of the underlying functions; the patient is “awake” during the tumor removal procedure and, with the help of the neuropsychologist, provides valuable clinical information to the surgical and anesthesiological team to safely guide the therapeutic act. To date, in the Marche University Hospital, about 180 patients with brain tumors located in areas called “eloquenti” have been operated on in “awake”.
The surgical procedure was performed in two stages within the same operating session due to the topographical complexity of the tumor: a first stage in “awake” to remove the part of the tumor in the sin temporal functional area (the one that governs language) and a second second stage under general anesthesia to remove the deeper contiguous component of the tumor.
The entire procedure is carried out in a multidisciplinary environment: neuroanaesthesiological (Dr. Edoardo Barboni), neurosurgical (Dr. Stefano Vecchioni, Dr. Roberto Trignani), neuropsychological (Dr.ssa Silvia Bonifazi).