• A 32 year old woman had a history of nasal fullness and developed double vision. Workup revealed an extensive, inflammatory mass of the skull base due to a condition known as allergic fungal sinusitis. Transnasal surgery we performed using the PoleStar in order to obtain a maximal resection and to avoid complications (such as by overzealous dissection leading to brain or optic nerve injury). She has felt much better since surgery and postoperative MRI showed no remaining mass.

• A 36 year old man, a supervisor in the engineering department at New Jersey Medical School, had a seizure at work. He was found to have a right frontal brain mass that biopsy showed to be a low grade (benign) tumor. Functional MRI confirmed that areas of the brain responsible for movement or speech were distant from the mass. Surgery with the PoleStar was carried out with complete resection of all tumor visualized on MRI. The patient was treated with a chemotherapy known to be highly effective for his type of tumor, and a recent MRI showed no tumor growth. He has been working full-time without difficulty.

• A 28 year old woman had a leg wound that would not heal for months. She had a history of weight gain. She was found to have a pituitary tumor secreting a hormone that led to excess steroid production by her body, a potentially life-threatening condition. With the PoleStar a transsphenoidal removal of the tumor was done without any incision. Within weeks her leg wound healed and she lost her excess weight.

Surgery and Case Report by: Peter Carmel, M.D., DMedSci, Professor of Neurological Surgery, New Jersey Medical School

• This 2 year old girl had undergone biopsy of a tumor in her brainstem at another hospital. The tumor continued to grow and she was unable to eat or use her right arm. The PoleStar enabled total removal of the tumor by showing a remaining portion that was not seen at first even using an operating microscope. Within a few months her right arm was moving normally and she was eating well.