Laser interstitial thermotherapy (LiTT) in pediatric epilepsy surgery

On April 10, 2018, Medtronic announced the CE (Conformité Européenne) Mark and therewith the European launch of the Visualase MRI-guided laser ablation system [1]. The Visualase system and the Neuroblate system (Monteris Medical, Plymouth/Minnesota) – the latter of which is only marketed in North America so far – both allow for MRI-guided stereotactic laser thermoablation or laser interstitial thermotherapy (LiTT) of small predefined volumes of pathological brain tissue. The two major indications for this kind of innovative minimally invasive or “keyhole” neurosurgery of soft tissues are brain tumors and drug-resistant usually focal epilepsy.

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