Minimally Invasive Surgery

Revolutionary Minimally Invasive Brain Surgery Pioneered at Children’s

One of the outstanding clinical innovations made by doctors at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC is a pioneering minimally invasive neurosurgical technique known as the Endoscopic Endonasal Approach (EEA), developed by Amin Kassam, MD, and Carl Snyderman, MD. Through use of EEA, surgeons remove tumors as large as baseballs through the nasal passages using narrow scopes and surgical tools — some of them developed by the surgeons themselves.

This kind of endoscopic brain surgery replaces techniques that involved peeling away skin and soft tissue from a patient’s face and head. The procedures not only left disfiguring scars, but also could affect optic nerves and carotid arteries. EEA leaves virtually no scars. At Children’s Hospital, it has been performed on better than 50 pediatric patients — more than at any other medical center in the world.

A paper in the February 2007 issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics concluded that EEA has the potential to be safer and often more effective than conventional surgery in children with life-threatening conditions — and in many instances is an option for tumors that once were deemed to be inoperable.

Click here to see Drs. Kassam and Snyderman removing a child’s tumor in a segment from NBC’s TODAY Show. 

Medical Education Web Casts Bring Cutting-Edge Knowledge to Pediatricians Nationwide

EEA is just one of the pioneering medical advances featured in Children’s Hospital’s series of Grand Rounds presentations, broadcast online, that are helping physicians across the country learn about new studies and treatments of childhood diseases, while they also earn Continuing Medical Education credits. Seven presentations are available in the archives. Medical practitioners around the country can see leading pediatric specialists presenting the latest research and treatments for cystic fibrosis, urinary tract infections, otitis media, neonatal jaundice and more.