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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Surgery to remove tumour a first here

Toddler won't have to live with unsightly scar

By: Sidhartha Banerjee

Posted: 09/2/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Ryan Remiorz / THE CANADIAN PRESS Jayden Cambridge, with mother, Tanya Comeau, doesn�t have scar to worry about. (CP)

MONTREAL -- In what surgeons believe could be a Canadian medical first, a toddler had a tumour removed from his face using a procedure that allows him to avoid living the rest of his life with an unsightly scar.

Doctors say the burgeoning endoscopic technique employed on the cherub-cheeked Montreal baby could drastically change the way tumours are removed and leave little scarring.

Doctors and surgeons at Montreal Children's Hospital said 18-month-old Jayden Cambridge had a blueberry-sized tumour removed last week -- with excellent results.

Dr. Sherif Emil, director of pediatric general surgery at the hospital, proposed the procedure for Jayden to avoid the prospect of an inch-long scar across his forehead and deep discolouration in his cinnamon skin.

"In the back of my mind it was a procedure looking for a patient," said Emil, who had seen the endoscopic technique performed in the United States.

"In this child, there was no way to make an incision that would not be obvious, so he was the perfect candidate for it," Emil said.

Emil found Jayden had a congenital tumour believed to be a dermoid cyst -- a benign tumour, but one that has to be removed because of the risk of rupture as the child grows older.

Surgeons entered through the baby's scalp, just above his hairline, to fell the tumour located in the middle of his forehead.

The tumour proved difficult to find as doctors began probing with the camera. It had become encased in bone. But once found, it was plucked out easily.

Emil said that, until now, most surgeons would have achieved the feat by cutting through the skin and muscle above the tumour. Jayden's surgery proves there are better options, he said.

"I didn't want to take a chance Jayden would go through the rest of his life with a mark on his face," Emil said.

Dr. Nabil Fanous, a plastic surgeon and associate professor of facial plastic surgery and head and neck surgery at McGill University and Universite de Sherbrooke, said the procedure is fairly common on adults, but not for tumour removal.

Jayden was discharged about an hour after surgery with just a tiny scar that will be hidden by his hairline and his shock of black, puffy hair.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 2, 2009 A8

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