October 25, 2024, 12:57 p.m

A UK surgeon has developed a way to remove large brain tumors through patients’ eyebrows.

Anastasios Gamouradis from NHS Grampian in Scotland uses keyhole surgery to remove tumours, leaving much less scarring than other procedures and resulting in a shorter recovery time.

One patient said she had barely any side effects from the operation, apart from a black eye.

So far, Mr. Giamouradis and his team have operated on 48 patients. Many of them were able to leave the hospital a day later.

It is also much faster, meaning the surgical team is less fatigued from their efforts.

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Mr Giamouradis said: “I have modified and developed the technique with my team and are operating on very large brain tumors in the front of the brain and up to the middle of the brain.

“This has a significant positive impact on patient outcome.

“For normal, extensive craniotomies, the duration of the operation is usually about eight hours, and patients will spend days in the hospital.

“Doing it by approaching the keyhole through the eyebrows is technically more difficult, but takes probably half the time – if not less.

“The patient will go home the next day and return to normal life most of the time within a week or two.”

Doreen Adams, 75, from Rosemount, Aberdeen, underwent the new procedure last year and said she felt “wonderful” when she woke up from the anaesthetic.

She previously had headaches before falling ill and undergoing a craniotomy abroad, which failed to remove her tumor.

Ms Adams told how she saw Mr Gamouradis while he was still recovering from the first operation and how he immediately reassured her about more surgeries.

“He is the most wonderful young man,” she said. “He told me he could fix me right away. He would put anyone at my ease.”

Ms. Adams said she felt almost none of the usual side effects of the surgery when she came into recovery.

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“I felt great after the surgery,” she said. “I was left with a black eye and it took a while for it to open, but that was it.”

Mr. Giamouriadis said the most rewarding part of his work in coming up with the new technique is experiencing the gratitude of patients once they wake up from surgery.

“Doreen hugged me when she woke up,” he said. “They’re wide awake right away, they’re fully composed, and they’re already improved in recovery.

“We joke in the team that the patients are more awake than anyone else by the end of the day.”

Mr Giamouriadis hopes that one day he can use virtual reality to teach other surgeons how to perform the new and improved procedure.

He revealed that he is working with a team from the University of Aberdeen on the project and that they are “very close” to having it ready.

“It’s very difficult to train someone in real life with this operation,” he explained.

“We’re developing a simulation so I can train people before doing the surgery in real life. This is the safest way to do it.

“We’re very close to launching it so we can train other people.”