We’ve reduced the time it takes to perform deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery – while also making it safer for our patients.

DBS involves placing electrodes within the brain, linked to a pacemaker. It’s mainly for patients with movement disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease.

To ensure the electrodes are placed correctly, the patient’s brain needs to be scanned before and after surgery. This meant patients had to be moved from the operating theatre to our Radiology department, on a different floor, twice during the procedure.

Now, thanks to a new method carried out by neurosurgeon Abteen Mostofi, using an Airo mobile CT scanner which allows us to scan the patient in the theatre during their operation, we’re saving up to an hour and a half each time.

Abteen said:

This method is much safer for patients as they are often anaesthetised when we move them, which involves moving a bed with a ventilator and pumps and the associated staff necessary, through a corridor, into a lift. It takes a lot of logistics and time.

We’re planning to double the capacity of operations we can complete as we become more practised with this method. Previously, this would take most of a day to carry out, whereas now we can finish a DBS procedure and another major operation on the same day. This will free up our theatres for more operations and reduce waste, as while a patient is being transferred for a scan elsewhere, a theatre is sitting empty.

Abteen is pictured top, second left, with members of the team in theatre, the scanner is in the background.

Grandfather Stanley Smith (above with wife Jackie), 67, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2019, was one of the first patients to benefit.

He said:

I thought it was a very good idea, not having to whip you out and run you up the road to come back again! It made me feel safer.

My quality of life has been non-existent due to my tremor – I can’t go out at certain times of the day as I can barely walk. After struggling for all these years, when my consultant spoke to me about DBS, I thought I’d give it a go. It’s a few weeks on from the operation and I’m doing well.

The Airo scanner has been designed specifically for neurosurgery to provide guidance during surgery.

Abteen added:

The scan works as a GPS system for the brain, ensuring we put our probes and instruments in the right place.

As we’re putting electrodes into very small parts of the brain, we have to know where everything is.

Following initial recovery from a DBS procedure, a patient like Stanley would work with their neurologist to use the attached pacemaker to stimulate the electrodes in the brain and reduce their symptoms.