Inside Pediatrics Winter 2017

room, then the patient is transferred to imaging. While treatment time is a matter of minutes, setup and laser placement can take on average three to four hours. Once again, careful and accurate placement is key. Robin was discharged the day after the procedure and has not experienced a seizure since. “It makes me feel good,” Robin said of living seizure free. “I can work now!”

Struble is doubly relieved – for the results and for his daughter’s quality of life moving forward. “We’re truly blessed and thankful to the surgeons and staff at Children’s, everybody who took care of her,” Struble said. “She wants to work, she wants to drive, she wants to finish school. She can have a normal life.”

POTENTIAL ADVANTAGES OF THERMAL LASER ABLATION • Most patients have little or no hair removed • Can be performed with patient wide awake • Minimally invasive: Small laser size allows safe access to deep-seated and surgically inaccessible lesions • Destroys only the target, leaving surrounding tissue unharmed • Causes little or no pain during or after procedure • Reduced recovery times, hospital stays and complications • Minimal sutures required, typically a one-stitch suture • Entry site heals quickly with minimal scarring • Because the procedure delivers no (ionizing) radiation, the procedure can be repeated multiple times; there are no dose limitations • Does not limit use of other treatment options

Robin Struble with father, Robert. On Valentine’s Day 2017, Robin became the first patient to undergo MRI-guided laser surgery at Children’s of Alabama. Robin has not experienced an epileptic seizure since the surgery.

13