Frameless stereotactic biopsy for the brain tumor

This study is presented, which examines the outcome, the duration of procedure, and complications of stereotactic brain biopsy performed with a frameless versus a frame based method. Between January 2001 and December 2005, 47 stereotactic biopsy procedures were performed. 18 of these were undertaken with a stereotactic frame and 29 were conducted with the technique of frameless stereotactic biopsy. Comparison of the smear specimen diagnosis with the final pathological diagnosis for each case and for each series revealed similar results for the two series. But, the anaesthetic time was dramatically reduced (>50% reduction) and complications were significantly fewer with the frameless stereotactic biposy. Even if we did not statistically prove the superiority of a frameless method, we validated the usefulness of it with this study.