MEMPHIS, TN--(Marketwire - May 20, 2009) - On May 20th at 12:00pm Eastern Time, Methodist University Hospital Neuroscience Institute will present an ORLive Virtual Brain Tumor Board case featuring a patient from Iraq who could not gain definitive care due to the war in Iraq. She was referred to the Methodist University Hospital Neuroscience Institute by members of the United States Military. This 30-year-old Iraqi female was diagnosed five years ago and has a history of progressive vision loss and headaches.

"She was told," according to Dr. Gabriel Phillips, "there was no medical treatment for her condition and she needed surgical resection and the political environment was too unstable to get that done where she was." If the patient did not receive the urgent care she required, she was facing the outcome of complete vision loss.

The patient came to the Methodist University Hospital Neuroscience Institute to receive the treatment she needed to cope with the grapefruit-sized mass in her skull. In an Online case review, doctors will discuss how they plan on operating to save the vision that the patient has left and to eliminate the mass. Post operation recovery and monitoring will also be covered during the case review. Because of the political turmoil in Iraq, doctors will have to treat post-operative recovery as if the patient will not have access to any further treatment.

Methodist University Hospital Neuroscience Institute will host an online case review, via Virtual Brain Tumor Board, allowing physicians from around the world to collaborate with the experts and contribute to the case discussion. Following, on May 21st, the Virtual Brain Tumor Board will post a video recap of this interesting patient's surgery, along with commentary from the surgeons.

About The Virtual Brain Tumor Board

Virtual Brain Tumor Board (VBTB) is a comprehensive online neuro-oncology resource center for physicians and their patients presented by Methodist University Hospital. VBTB focuses on leading-edge treatments for brain tumors and offers participants the opportunity to submit challenging cases for review, collaborate with our experts and contribute to the case discussions in our case-specific forums, select and view discussions of challenging neuro-oncology cases from the large video bank, and access information on the latest clinical trials. VBTB was born from the growing demand for quality clinical information online, especially for clinicians practicing in rural communities far from academic medical centers. Because VBTB offers the opportunity for physicians to submit cases for review and collaborate in our physician-only discussion forums, the on-demand access needs of many regional and international clinicians are finally being met.

About ORLive

ORLive is the world's leading surgical broadcasting company. Working collaboratively with hospitals and device manufacturers, ORLive produces customized, interactive, video programs that demonstrate the latest surgical techniques and product innovations. The ORLive broadcasting network provides an intimate look at over 650 live and on-demand surgeries to a global audience, streaming over 45,000 hours of programming each month. The ORLive network can be found on-line at www.OR-Live.com.