25+ specialists across a range of fields convenes weekly to discuss cases, formulate an optimal treatment plan and coordinate care with numerous specialties across Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Our Approach to Brain Tumor Treatment
The Johns Hopkins Difference
By partnering with the Comprehensive Brain Tumor Center, you'll have access to the most advanced treatment options delivered by the field's leading experts who perform hundreds of brain tumor surgeries every year.
Collaboration
Discovery and Innovation
Our experts don't just treat brain tumors, they study them in the lab, too, gaining deeper insight into how the disease works and which clinical trials might benefit specific patients.
Personalization
Our specialists consider many factors that guide their care recommendations, including your medical history, tumor location, type, grade, aggressiveness, tumor genetics and more.
Brain Tumor Treatment Advances
Johns Hopkins brain tumor researchers and clinicians are skilled in the most cutting-edge therapies, technologies and surgical techniques that help up improve patients' treatment outcomes and minimize side effects.
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Intraoperative MRI
Using MRI during surgery helps brain surgeons detect and address any challenges before the patient leaves the operating room.
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Brachytherapy
After removing the brain tumor, surgeons place radiotherapy “seeds” directly in the space left behind to prevent the tumor from growing back.
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MRI-Guided Laser Ablation
Guided by imaging techniques, surgeons remove the tumor with a laser for more accuracy and optimal preservation of healthy brain tissue.
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Tumor-Treating Fields
Brain tumors grow when their cells multiply in number. Electrical fields painlessly interrupt this process, slowing down the growth of tumors that cannot be removed by surgery alone.
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Endoscopic and Minimally Invasive Surgery
Devices like tubular retraction systems and certain surgical techniques allow doctors to spare healthy tissue while removing the tumor. These techniques include "eyebrow" (supra-orbital) craniotomy, "keyhole" (retro-signoid) craniotomy, translabyrinthine craniotomy and endonasal endoscopy.
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Awake Craniotomies
Brain tumor surgeons can navigate delicate structures of the brain, in some cases while the patient is awake, comfortable and providing feedback to the surgical team to help preserve vital brain function.
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Intraoperative Chemotherapy
Neurosurgeons can use small, biodegradable discs containing chemotherapy drugs to treat any remaining tumor cells during tumor removal.
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Targeted Drug Therapies
Based on a comprehensive genomic profile of your tumor, doctors will select the medications most likely to be effective in homing in on tumor cells and sparing healthy tissues.
Collaborative Care for Better Outcomes
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Neuroplastic Surgery
When a neurosurgeon works alongside a plastic surgeon, you get the best of both worlds: effective treatment for your condition and simultaneous reconstruction of any resulting skull defects.
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Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center
Kimmel Cancer Center offers vast resources for those diagnosed with brain cancer, including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, radiosurgery, clinical trials and more. Our close collaboration ensures smooth coordination of care for patients who can benefit from these treatments.
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Proton Therapy
Many children and adults with certain types of brain cancer can benefit from proton radiation therapy known for its ability to zero-in on the tumor with minimal effects to the surrounding tissue.
From Our Experts More About Our Treatment Approaches
In these videos, our experts across multiple specialties discuss different brain tumor treatment approaches.