The goals of the bicoastal institutions’ collaboration include:
- Reduce brain surgery incision size to less than 3 millimeters
- Minimize bleeding and risk of infection
- Improve patient outcomes and quality of life
- Effectively target deadly aggressive brain cancers like Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM)
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (Feb. 27, 2025) – Leading Hoag neurosciences innovator Robert G. Louis, M.D., FAANS, will visit the University of Miami as an honored guest at the end of February to collaborate on an emerging laser ablation platform for surgically inaccessible brain tumors.
A prominent neurosurgeon of Hoag’s skull base and pituitary tumor program, Dr. Louis holds the Empower360 Endowed Chair in Skull Base and Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery and serves as the Director of the Skull Base and Pituitary Tumor Program at the Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute at Hoag. He has been on the forefront of many endoscopic and minimally invasive treatments of benign and malignant brain tumors, as well as technology that advances surgical capabilities through artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR).
Working with UM’s Richardo Komotar, M.D., a world renowned expert for brain tumors, laser ablation and robotics, Dr. Louis’s latest collaboration will focus on expanding the capabilities of laser ablation technology. This includes using MRI-guided magnetic fields to steer a flexible micro robotic arm that can navigate through the brain, ablating tumors while leaving the rest of the brain intact.
This preclinical technology has the potential to reduce the invasiveness of brain surgery, and perhaps even replace craniotomies with a minimally invasive 3mm fiber insertion. This could result in faster recovery times and earlier initiation of post-surgical treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation. The approach, which is being developed by Ohio-based Symphony Robotics, also has the potential to expand access to life-saving surgery for people with Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), an aggressive, starfish-shaped brain tumor that is often too difficult to treat with ablation.
“The micro-robotic arm’s MRI-compatible maneuverability will allow neurosurgeons to perform complete ablations through a single micro-opening, even in lesions that are otherwise untreatable due to their location and/or shape,” Dr. Louis, said. “This innovation could reduce the insertion hole size from something akin to a coffee cup to that of a small stirring straw. Could craniotomies become obsolete? It certainly seems possible.”
The emerging Symphony Robotics platform, which uses a licensed MRI-guided catheter that is controlled magnetically, is being designed to enable precise, micro-invasive surgeries with real-time image guidance, targeting complex microsurgical procedures for brain cancer and epilepsy.
This would expand the use of ablation, as current technology is limited to linear ablation – burning tumors that appear in either a straight line or in a “string of pearls” pattern. GBM’s “starfish” shape necessitates a different approach.
“The idea here is to use the magnetic field of the MRI to steer the catheter in the direction that we want to under real time MRI guidance, and then drive it to one area, create an ablation, drive it to another area, create an ablation, all while visualizing real time with the MRI,” he said. “While the technology is very early – it’s in the preclinical stage – I am very excited about it. It is my mission in life is to make brain surgery more precise and less invasive, and this has the potential to be a game-changer.”
ABOUT HOAG
Hoag is a nonprofit, regional health care delivery system in Orange County, California. Delivering world-class, comprehensive, personalized care, Hoag consists of 1,800 top physicians, 17 urgent care facilities, 12 health & wellness centers, and two award-winning hospitals. Hoag offers a comprehensive blend of health care services that includes seven institutes providing specialized services in the following areas: cancer, digestive health, heart and vascular, neurosciences, spine, women’s health, and orthopedics through Hoag’s affiliate, Hoag Orthopedic Institute, which consists of an orthopedic hospital and four ambulatory surgical centers. Hoag is the highest ranked hospital in Orange County by U.S. News & World Report and the only OC hospital ranked in the Top 10 in California, as well as a designated Magnet® with Distinction hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). For more information, visit hoag.org.
