26/09/2025
👁️🧠 Surgeons Just Performed a World-First: They Removed a Spinal Tumor Through an Eye Socket!
In a groundbreaking procedure, doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center saved the life of 19-year-old Karla Flores by removing a dangerous spinal tumor — not through the back or neck — but through her eye socket. 😮
🛠 Using advanced endoscopic tools, the team accessed the tumor by temporarily moving her eyeball, carefully navigating between delicate nerves and arteries.
This avoided facial scarring and major neurological risks.
🧬 The tumor was a chordoma, a rare and aggressive cancer that had wrapped around her spinal cord.
Traditional surgery risked paralysis or worse. This innovative “transorbital” approach, nicknamed the “third nostril”, offered a safer and scarless route.
🦴 After reconstructing the bone with titanium and a hip graft, Karla is now cancer-free and recovering beautifully — even dreaming of becoming a manicurist again. 💪
➡️ This could redefine skull base surgery for complex brainstem and spine tumors around the world.
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