Doctors have carried out a first operation in the UK to remove a previously inoperable brain tumor using keyhole surgery through a patient’s eye socket.
Ruvimbo Kaviya, 40, became the first person in the UK to have a brain tumor removed from the cavernous sinus, the space under the brain and behind the eyes, using a pioneering new type of surgery.
Many tumors in this part of the brain were previously considered inoperable or required complex surgery involving removal of a large portion of the skull and relocation of the brain, which could lead to complications such as seizures.
Surgeons at University Hospitals Leeds NHS Trust were the first in the UK to use the trans-orbital endoscopic approach in an operation which lasted just three hours. Kaviya, a nurse in Leeds, got up and took a walk later that day.
The operation has now been carried out several times, giving hope to British patients whose cancers were previously considered inoperable.
Kaviya was diagnosed with meningioma in 2023, after suffering severe headaches, and a second meningioma was discovered in October of the same year.
“This was the first time they had done this procedure. I had no choice but to accept because the pain was just too much – I didn’t even think it was the first time, all I needed was to take it away,” said Kaviya, who is now working in the field of stroke rehabilitation again. nurse in Leeds.
“I had headaches, which felt like an electric shock to my face. I couldn’t even touch my facial skin, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t brush my teeth, it was truly horrible.
Doctors in Leeds consulted experts in Spain who said she would be a good candidate for this new surgery and the operation was carried out in February 2024.
Kaviya, who has three children, said her family was skeptical about the procedure and had been told it carried risks.
“I just told them, ‘I just have to do this – either I do it or it keeps growing, and maybe I’ll die.’ There is a first time for everything. So you never know, maybe this is the best chance for me to get it. And it was,” she said.
She said she came home from the hospital a few days later and aside from a “very small” scar and double vision for about three months, she had no side effects.
Hospital experts performed the operation several times, first using 3D models of Kaviya’s head and then in a cadaver lab.
Asim Sheikh, a neurosurgeon, told the PA news agency: “This way we don’t even touch the brain. It is a difficult to reach area, allowing direct access without any compromise on pressure on the brain.
His colleague Jiten Parmar, a maxillofacial surgeon, developed a technique in which a small portion of the outer wall of the eye socket was cut away to allow better access.
“We have innovated with a new technique, which I think is unique to Leeds, to make the operation much easier,” he said. “It was so well rehearsed that we felt like we’d done it 100 times before – and that’s how it should be when using a new technique.”
