{"entity":{"id":"litt","kind":"technology","name":"Laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT)","aka":[],"tldr":"Laser interstitial thermal therapy guides a laser fibre through a small skull hole, monitored by real-time MRI, to heat and destroy deep brain tumours a surgeon could not safely reach.","summary":"MRI thermometry-guided ablation (NeuroBlate, Visualase) for deep-seated or recurrent gliomas, radiation necrosis, and brain metastases. Case series suggest survival comparable to resection for selected recurrent glioblastoma; may transiently open the blood-brain barrier, enabling drug delivery (LAANTERN registry, phase 2 combinations with immunotherapy). No randomised evidence yet.","status":"established","asOf":"2026-09-06","links":[{"label":"Kamath et al., Glioblastoma treated with MRI-guided laser interstitial thermal therapy: safety, efficacy and outcomes (Neurosurgery 2018)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1093/neuros/nyy375"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["glioblastoma"],"sections":["surgery"],"technologies":["mri","thermal-ablation"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["blood-brain-barrier"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":["paper-kamath-neurosurgery"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"principle":"Stereotactically placed laser fibre delivers thermal energy; MR thermometry maps the ablation zone in real time.","strengths":["Minimally invasive access to deep lesions","Short hospital stay","Possible BBB disruption for adjuvant drugs"],"limitations":["Lesion size limit (~3 cm)","Oedema after ablation","No randomised trials"]},"route":"/technologies/litt/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"glioblastoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Glioma & glioblastoma","route":"/cancers/glioblastoma/"}],"section":[{"id":"surgery","kind":"section","name":"Surgery & Interventional","route":"/fronts/surgery/"}],"technology":[{"id":"intraoperative-mri-ct","kind":"technology","name":"Intraoperative MRI and CT","route":"/technologies/intraoperative-mri-ct/"},{"id":"litt-systems","kind":"technology","name":"Laser interstitial thermal therapy systems (NeuroBlate, Visualase)","route":"/technologies/litt-systems/"},{"id":"mri","kind":"technology","name":"MRI","route":"/technologies/mri/"},{"id":"thermal-ablation","kind":"technology","name":"Thermal ablation (RFA, microwave, cryo)","route":"/technologies/thermal-ablation/"}],"term":[{"id":"blood-brain-barrier","kind":"term","name":"Blood-brain barrier (BBB)","route":"/terms/blood-brain-barrier/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-kamath-neurosurgery","kind":"paper","name":"Glioblastoma Treated With Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Guided Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy: Safety, Efficacy, and Outcomes","route":"/key-papers/paper-kamath-neurosurgery/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-brain-delivery","kind":"bottleneck","name":"The brain: barrier and sanctuary","route":"/bottlenecks/b-brain-delivery/"}],"idea":[{"id":"idea-bio2-robotic-convection-delivery","kind":"idea","name":"Robot-placed catheters and live imaging for drug infusion into brain tumours","route":"/ideas/idea-bio2-robotic-convection-delivery/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"blood-brain-barrier-metastasis","kind":"pathway","name":"The blood-brain barrier & brain metastasis","route":"/pathways/blood-brain-barrier-metastasis/"}],"roadmap":[{"id":"devices-roadmap","kind":"roadmap","name":"Devices and physical therapies roadmap: heat and light → electric fields and focused sound → drug-releasing implants","route":"/roadmaps/devices-roadmap/"}]}}