Actualités neurochirurgicales dans le traitement des tumeurs cérébrales

Neuronavigation is a tool for image guidance surgery. Based on the principle of the GPS, it is notably used for the ablation of brain tumors. Because of their millimetre precision, neuronavigation devices bring more safety and effectiveness due to the ever increasing performances of medical imaging. However, neuronavigation presents a major pitfall as it uses a static support (the images acquired preoperatively) to perform a dynamic process (the surgical ablation). To preserve the performance of neuronavigation, it is mandatory to update the images during surgery. This is now achievable by interventional MRI, intra-operative ultrasound and the incorporation of fluorescent tracers by the tumor cells. These major tools, now available at Sart Tilman University Hospital of combined with state-of -the-art chemotherapy, radiotherapy and experimental protocols (including gene therapy) will undoubtedly improve the prognosis of brain tumors.