Week II: New Start

This week I was finally able to meet with my advisor Dr. Gupta in neuroradiology and neuroscience. He was very efficient--- he briefly introduced me the project he had in mind for me and answered all my questions in a short time. I will work on analyzing the MRI images using quantitative susceptibility mapping techniques. I felt fortunate I could have a clinical advisor whose working style I admire a lot. We also discussed the possibilities to spend my morning in the actual MRI scan room and see how the image acquisition process and then spend my afternoon in the reading rooms to analyze the data that are most likely the data acquired in the morning.

Another exciting experience this week is that I could for the first time ever in my life spend my time in OR observing a surgery. I shadowed Dr. Schwartz and watched how he and the team performed a complete an endoscopic brain surgery. It was a 6-hour eye-opening experience. A brain tumor in the deep brain region was removed through a tunnel starting from the nose. The doctor first stained the brain fluid with green and yellow color by inserting a tube into the back of the body. Then an endoscope was used to see the cross section of the current surgery site. They used a drill to break the bones in the middle of the nose so that more space could be created. More space would allow a better view and enough space to perform the surgery. The drilling process proceeded till the craniotomy was finished and the brain was open and seen. During this process, vacuums were applied all the time to clean the surgery site. The skull removal process lasted for around 4 hours and then Dr. Schwartz successfully removed the tumor in the brain. In the final stage, cartilage from the waist was cut and was placed on the surface of the cranial window. They used a custom-sized block and glue to stabilize the cartilage so that a wall was re-built to separate the nose and brain. The doctors told me the complete removal of the benign tumor would bring the life of the patient to normal life. I concerned about the loss of the bones in the nose would result in discomfort. Later after the surgery, I was told my concern was not much of an issue since the removal would not affect the quality of the patient's life.

Through my first OR experience, I learned so much and am so motivated to observe more in my next following weeks. I realized how diagnosis via MRI, CT and ultrasound imaging played a huge role in following treatment and surgery of the patients. I sensed strongly the power of imaging, say endoscopy, could help so much in such endoscopic brain surgery. These have become part of my motivation to develop my research project in imaging technology back in Ithaca.