Central nervous system care

Multidisplinary Neuro-oncology Clinic: Led by Dr. James Perry, an international expert in the field and leader in clinical trials research, this clinic focuses on the management of primary brain and spinal cord tumours with chemotherapy or other systemic agents, and the neurological side effects of both tumours and the treatments required.

SCORS Radiosurgery Clinic: The Sunnybrook CNS Oncology Radiosurgery Clinic (SCORS) led by Dr. Arjun Sahgal and Dr. Hany Soliman is a multidisciplinary neurosurgical, medical oncology, and radiation oncology clinic that can rapidly see patients with metastatic lesions in the brain or spine as well as benign tumours such as meningioma or schwannomas and functional disorders such as trigeminal neuralgia. Radiosurgery is highly precise, high-dose radiation treatment often administered in a single day that can fully ablate tumours while minimizing the side effects of treatment.

MR-Linac -ELEKTA Unity guided radiation: A team of radiation oncologists led by Dr. Eric Tseng and Dr. Arjun Sahgal are pioneering this novel device to treat brain tumour patients with MR guidance. The team can now visualize the brain tumour while the radiation beam is on. This is a first-in-the-world device, and Sunnybrook is one a few centres to have one. A team of Sunnybrook scientists are also researching the images to allow for next generation radiation for glioblastoma and all brain tumours.

Advanced surgical management of spinal metastases with image-guided surgery. Dr. Victor Yang has developed technology that allows for unprecedented precision in the treatment of tumours that have spread to the spine.

MR-guided focused ultrasound to enhance the delivery of chemotherapy to the brain. Led by Dr. Nir Lipsman and Dr. Todd Mainprize, Sunnybrook is exploring ways to deliver chemotherapy past the blood-brain barrier.

Read a patient story. http://health.sunnybrook.ca/cancer/focused-ultrasound-glioblastoma-trial/

Comprehensive treatment of arteriovenous malformations (AVMS) AVMs are a tangle of poorly formed blood vessels that are prone to bleeding, which can be catastrophic when they occur in the brain. Diagnosis and treatment of AVMs requires highly specialized imaging tests as well as a multi-disciplinary approach as each AVM is unique and may be best treated by either one of or a combination of embolization, surgery, and radiotherapy. This program is led by Drs. Michael Schwartz and Leo Da Costa as neurosurgeons and Drs. Hany Soliman and Eric Tseng as radiation oncologists.

Advanced surgical management of primary brain tumours: Dr. Todd Mainprize, chief of neurosurgery and an expert surgeon for Glioblastoma, uses awake craniotomy techniques, neural monitoring, advanced functional imaging and novel surgical guidance tracers to resections of advanced brain tumours.

Advanced surgical management of acoustic neuroma: Dr. Joe Chen and Dr. Farhad Pirouzmand are world leaders in surgery for acoustic neuromas. They have one of the largest practices in Canada and provide comprehensive multidisciplinary assessments with the radiosurgery team at the Odette.