Neurosurgery meets Social Media
Apr 15th, 2009 by admin
On March 18, 2009, Henry Ford neurosurgeons Kost Elisevich and Steven Kalkanis led a team of doctors in a surgical procedure to remove a brain tumor.
The 47-year old male patient had recently been diagnosed with a tumor in the speech area of his brain.
During the surgical procedure, called an awake craniotomy, the patient was put to sleep while his brain was exposed, then awakened to answer questions while the surgical team mapped out the specific areas of his brain involved in speech.
Once the mapping was complete, the the patient was put back to sleep while the surgeons removed the tumor, avoiding the sensitive areas identified during the mapping procedure.
Although awake craniotomies are not unusual these days, the thing that made this surgery unique was that the patient agreed to allow his surgical team to broadcast their progress during the surgery on Twitter, and upload video to YouTube.
Surgeons posted updates to Twitter and 1,900 "followers" of Henry Ford Hospital asked questions of the doctors and received responses in real time.
Video of the surgery was uploaded to YouTube (below):
Surgeons make the incision in the patient’s scalp
The dura mater, or lining of the brain, is exposed
The patient is awakened for the brain mapping
More information:
[...] tweeted right through it,” Mr. Ferris said. Other Twitter-casts included a hysterectomy and a craniotomy, during which the hospital posted video on YouTube and photos, and the surgeon would “literally [...]