BACKGROUND Brain laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) under magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) guidance has recently gained US clinical approval for the ablation of soft, neurological tissue. LITT is a minimally invasive alternative to craniotomy. OBJECTIVE While safety and efficacy are the focus of most current LITT studies, it is unclear how acute care costs (inpatient care ± aftercare) ...

There is a renewed interest in MR-guided laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) as a minimally invasive alternative to craniotomy for local treatment of various brain tumors and epilepsy. LITT allows for focused delivery of laser energy monitored in real time by MRI, for precise ablation of the lesion. Although highly promising, the long-term effects of laser ablation as a viable treatment o...

OBJECTIVE Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and deadly malignant primary brain tumor. Better surgical therapies are needed for newly diagnosed GBMs that are difficult to resect and for GBMs that recur despite standard therapies. The authors reviewed their institutional experience of using laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) for the treatment of newly diagnosed or recurrent GBMs. METHO...

Laser interstitial thermotherapy (LITT) is a relatively new focal therapy technique for the ablation of localized prostate cancer. In this study, for the first time, we are integrating ex vivo pathology and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to assess the imaging characteristics of prostate cancer and treatment changes following LITT. Via a unique clinical trial, which gave us the availability of...

Laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) has recently emerged as a new treatment modality for cancer pain management that targets the cingulum (pain center in the brain), and has shown promise over radio-frequency (RF) based ablation which is reported to provide temporary relief. One of the major advantages enjoyed by LITT is its compatibility with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), allowing fo...

PURPOSE To evaluate the complications from laser-induced thermotherapy (LITT) of malignant liver tumors and demonstrate that LITT is safe as an outpatient procedure. MATERIALS AND METHODS During 8 years, 899 patients with malignant liver tumors were treated with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging-guided LITT. A total of 2,132 LITT procedures were performed to treat 2,520 lesions. To account for ...

BACKGROUND Surgical treatments for deep-seated intracranial lesions have been limited by morbidities associated with resection. Real-time magnetic resonance imaging-guided focused laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) offers a minimally invasive surgical treatment option for such lesions. OBJECTIVE To review treatments and results of patients treated with LITT for intracranial lesions at ...

PURPOSE To evaluate the local tumor control rate and survival data for magnetic resonance (MR) imaging-guided laser ablation of breast cancer liver metastases by using laser-induced interstitial thermotherapy (LITT). MATERIALS AND METHODS MR-guided LITT was performed in 232 female patients with 578 liver metastases from breast cancer. Survival rates were calculated with the Kaplan-Meier metho...

Purpose: To evaluate a treatment protocol with repeated transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) before laser-induced thermotherapy (LITT) in patients with unresectable liver metastases too large for LITT alone. Materials and Methods: A total of 162 patients with unresectable liver metastases (the largest lesion smaller than 80 mm in diameter, no more than 4 lesions) were treated with repeated TA...

Laser interstitial thermotherapy (LITT) is a relatively new focal therapy technique for the ablation of localized prostate cancer. However, very little is known about the specific effects of LITT within the ablation zone and the surrounding normal tissue regions. For instance, it is important to be able to assess the extent of residual cancer within the prostate following LITT, which may be mas...