A Study of Aminolevulinic Acid Used to Enhance Visualization and Surgical Removal of Brain Tumors
Status:
Terminated
Trial end date:
2015-01-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
In this study subjects will be administered a single oral dose of Aminolevulinic Acid (ALA)
prior to surgical resection of their brain tumor. The ALA ultimately causes brain tumor
tissue to fluoresce or light up under ultraviolet light. During surgery an ultraviolet light
in the microscope chain will be turned on. The tumor tissue will fluoresce bright pink
allowing the surgeon to more easily differentiate tumor tissue from normal brain tissue. The
aim of the study is to determine whether ALA and fluorescent visualization of tumor tissue
improves the surgeon's ability to completely resect or remove the brain tumor.