Experience and Expertise
At the Neuro-Oncology Branch (NOB), we have more than 20 years of experience working with patients and their physicians to offer a comprehensive approach to patient care. Patients travel from all over the world for the opportunity to be treated by our experienced physicians. NOB sees hundreds of new patients and 2,000–3,000 follow-up patients with primary brain tumors each year. Our multidisciplinary team works with patients and their local physicians to deliver optimal standard therapy.
In addition, at NOB, there is also the potential to participate in a wide range of clinical trials. At any given time, there are between 6 and 20 clinical trials for primary brain tumors underway at NOB. There are also many clinical services available here, including state-of-the-art radiation oncology, neurosurgery, and neuroradiology.
We work closely with our specialists to provide a multidisciplinary approach to care. Our specialists bring their own experiences and expertise to every case, and together we develop a personalized treatment plan for all our patients. Our team meets weekly at our Brain Tumor Conference to review patients’ medical cases to ensure they are receiving the best care possible.
Neurosurgery
Our neurosurgical team uses state-of-the-art and cutting-edge technologies to ensure the best possible outcomes for our patients.
Pre-surgical planning may include:
- Functional MRIs
- MRI perfusion
- MRI tractography
- PET imaging
Our goal is to ensure maximal safe resection while sparing healthy tissue.
During surgery, intra-operative MRI is available and helps guide surgeons through especially challenging cases. Neurosurgeons at NIH also specialize in intraopertive functional cortical mapping and nerve monitoring to allow the most aggressive—yet safest—surgery to be conducted on some of the most sensitive areas of the brain.
After surgery, we work closely with the neurosurgery team to coordinate care, and we continue to follow our patients during their hospitalizations in the event of any surgical procedures.
Radiation Oncology
Radiation therapy is an important part of treatment for brain tumors. Our radiation oncologists use cutting-edge technologies to plan and deliver radiation treatments including:
- Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT)
- Rapid arc technology
- Tomotherapy
- Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS)
The different treatment modalities are used by the radiation oncologist to direct targeted beams at the tumor while minimizing the radiation delivered to normal tissues.
Typical radiation delivery for brain tumors is a daily treatment (about 1 hour) Monday through Friday for about 6 weeks. SRS is a specialized delivery system that gives precise high-dose radiation in a single treatment. SRS is typically used for benign brain tumors and brain metastases.
Neuroradiology
We work closely with our colleagues in the Neuroradiology Section of the Radiology Department at NIH to provide comprehensive neuroimaging evaluations. CT scans, PET imaging, and MRIs (3 tesla and 1.5 tesla for clinical scans and up to 7 tesla for research scans) are available.
To help with brain tumor MRI interpretation, we use a special technique called “MRI registration.” This program was developed at NIH and allows us to view digitally matching slices of the MRI across different dates to make more exact comparisons. This technology can more accurately detect small but potentially clinically significant changes in the tumor.
In addition to MRI registration, all NOB MRIs for brain tumors include the generation of physiological information through techniques including:
- MR diffusion
- MR spectroscopy
- MR blood volumes
- Perfusion
These techniques allow for more detailed understanding of the potential for tumor growth and response to treatment.