Frontiers in Pain Research (Nov 2022)

Case report: MR-guided laser induced thermal therapy for palliative cingulotomy

  • Anthony K. Allam,
  • M. Benjamin Larkin,
  • Kalman A. Katlowitz,
  • Ben Shofty,
  • Ashwin Viswanathan,
  • Ashwin Viswanathan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpain.2022.1028424
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 3

Abstract

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In end-stage cancer, oncologic pain refractory to medical management significantly reduces patients' quality of life. In recent years, ablative surgery has seen a resurgence in treating diffuse and focal cancer pain in terminal patients. The anterior cingulate gyrus has been a key focus as it plays a role in the cognitive and emotional processing of pain. While radiofrequency ablation of the dorsal anterior cingulate is well described for treating cancer pain, MRI-guided laser-induced thermal therapy (LITT) is novel. Our paper describes a patient treated with an MRI-guided LITT therapy of the anterior cingulate gyrus for intractable debilitating pain secondary to terminal metastatic cancer.

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