Doctors in the UK have recently performed an incredible surgical feat: removing a human brain tumor through their eyesocket.

Surgeons at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust performed the procedure on 40-year-old Ruvimbo Kaviya last year. The operation, the first of its kind to be carried out in the UK, is intended to be a less invasive treatment for certain tumors located at the base of the skull. Kaviya was home from the hospital in a few days and now sports a small, nondescript scar over her left eye.

Kaviya was diagnosed with multiple meningiomas (tumors that grow in the meninges, the protective layers of the brain) in 2023, after persistent headaches and other symptoms. The tumors were located in his cavernous sinus, a network of nerves and vessels found behind the eyes that direct blood flow away from the brain.

Usually, doctors try to remove these tumors through an open craniotomy, a procedure that involves removing a piece of the skull and adjusting the position of the brain to reach the cancer. But as luck would have it, surgeons in recent years have been experimenting with a new technique to remove tumors at the base of the skull, called endoscopic trans-orbital approach. And in this case, Kaviya appears to be a perfect candidate for surgery.

“This technique allows us to remove tumors without opening the skull or having to retract or compress the brain. The minimally invasive nature of the procedure greatly reduces trauma, enabling patients to recover more quickly. quickly with little visible scarring,” said Asim Sheikh, a consultant skullbase and neurovascular neurosurgeon in Leeds who performed Kaviya’s surgery, in a statement from the hospital.

Doctors first practiced their procedure using 3D replica models created using scans of Kaviya’s skull. They performed the surgery in February 2024, which only required making a nearly half-inch cut on Kaviya’s eyelid. The cancer is then removed using an endoscope (a flexible tube and camera) that surgeons carefully navigate around the eyesocket.

“I was amazed at the recovery,” Kaviya said in a statement from Leeds. “I was only in the hospital for two days, no side effects or swelling. I feel better now. I am very grateful to Mr. Sheikh, Mr. Parmar, and the whole team—they reassured me throughout the process.”

While Kaviya had to take three months off from work to fully recover, she has since returned to her work. And the growing use of this emerging technique should improve the surgical treatment of many other patients with similar cases, doctors say.

“It’s a hard-to-reach place, and it (surgery) allows a direct access without any compromise on the pressure in the brain. So it just got us to places that were previously thought not to be.” available, but now accessible,” Sheikh said SPOKE The Telegraph.