Cancer Treatment Kills Tumors by 'Cooking'

The newly-developed probe can reach areas difficult -- if not impossible -- to reach through conventional surgery. It's one of the many recent advances in a technique first attempted a decade ago.

"This allows us to steer the laser in different directions," said Dr. Gene Barnett, director of the Brain Tumor and Neuro Oncology Center at the Cleveland Clinic. In addition, Barnett said the new probe can "protect normal brain, thereby bringing the benefits of surgery to patients who otherwise had inoperable brain tumors."

Brain cancer is a particularly aggressive disease, and most tumors eventually grow back. But Barnett says this experimental treatment could help.

"By destroying the vast majority of the tumor we increase the odds the patients will live longer." And unlike conventional surgery, this treatment means Perko's recovery will now take just days, instead of weeks.