UM Health-Sparrow Brain Tumor Center
When UM Health-Sparrow surgeons remove tissues from a patient's tumor while the surgery is still going on, a neuropathologist springs into action. The neuropathologist, one of only a handful in Michigan, quickly provides a detailed analysis of the tumor, including its type and severity. The information is relayed to surgeons in the operating room, enabling them to better decide on a course of action.
That's one of the differences at UM Health-Sparrow's Brain Tumor Center.
The Brain Tumor Center is dedicated to successful diagnosis, treatment, and cure of brain and spinal tumors in children and adults. Utilizing the clinical, academic, and research expertise of the Herbert-Herman Cancer Center, alongside the area's leading specialists and Michigan State University.
Medical Specialties
The center is a multidisciplinary program involving various medical specialties that include: neurosurgery, neuroradiology, neuropathology, and oncology. This team works together with the patient and their family to develop a care plan that best meets their needs. Diagnosis and treatment is handled in one single, comprehensive clinic.
The UM Health-Sparrow Brain Tumor Center participates in the latest clinical trials with access to the nation's most innovative treatments and newest drugs.
Among the tools available at the center:
- Neuronavigational equipment generates a detailed, 3D image of the area under investigation. Surgeons can pinpoint areas needing treatment and remove tumors with precision, reducing harmful side effects, pain, and recovery time for patients.
- Radiosurgery is an important alternative to invasive surgery. It does not remove the tumor or lesion but distorts the cells' DNA, which then lose their ability to reproduce. The treatment can minimize the amount of radiation that passes through healthy brain tissue.
- Special diagnostic tools, with assistance from UM Health-Sparrow's diagnostic laboratories and experts at Michigan State University, accurately determine the type and extent of the tumor. Integral to the process is use of the most advanced diagnostic technology.
- Targeted therapies are used, either alone or in combination with other treatments, such as radiation therapy. These non-chemotherapy approaches target specific characteristics of cancer cells, limiting the side effects of treatments.
The UM Health-Sparrow Brain Tumor Center treats or performs, among other things:
- Brain tumors
- Pediatric neurosurgery
- Pituitary tumors