Health
Rare spinal cancer tumor removed through patient’s eye at university hospital
A young Maryland woman is “relieved and recovering” after doctors performed a novel surgery to remove her potentially deadly cancerous tumors.
A surgical team at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) extracted the tumors, which had wrapped around the spinal cord, through the patient’s eye socket.
This was the first time surgeons removed a spinal tumor using a “transorbital” approach, according to a UMMC press release.
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Karla Flores was just 19 when she was diagnosed with a chordoma, which is a developmental bone tumor, in her spine.
At 18, Flores started experiencing double vision, ultimately leading to her diagnosis months later.
Karla Flores, taken in March 2025. Her face is absolutely scarless after all her surgeries. (Karla Flores)
Chordomas are very rare, with only about 300 cases occurring in the U.S. each year.
“The tumor was wrapped around the patient’s spine and spinal cord and had invaded the vertebrae in her neck, just below the base of the skull,” according to Mohamed Labib, M.D., neurosurgeon at the University of Maryland Medical Center and assistant professor of neurosurgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
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“The primary risks were injuring the brainstem, spinal cord or major blood vessels with the drill or the fine instruments we used — any of these injuries could have resulted in paralysis or even death,” Labib told Fox News Digital.
“But without surgery, the chordoma could have continued to grow and put intense pressure on the spinal cord. This, too, would have paralyzed her arms and legs and eventually killed her. So, you can see how the stakes were very high with this procedure.”
From left to right, Dr. Kalpesh Vakharia, Dr. Mohamed Labib and Dr. Andrea Hebert of the University of Maryland Medical Center. (University of Maryland Medical Center)
The surgeons created a “huge surgical corridor” through the eye socket that enabled them to get in front of the spinal cord.
“It was a straight shot,” Labib said.
“By going through the bottom of the eye socket, we were able to remove a tumor that otherwise would have been very difficult and very risky to address.”
“Learning about the spinal and brain tumors was terrifying, but I am so grateful the doctors were able to remove them.”
During the procedure, Labib worked with a facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon, Kalpesh T. Vakharia, M.D., who “carefully cut through the conjunctiva, the transparent membrane protecting the eye, inside the lower eyelid without disturbing the eye.”
To create the pathway to the spine, Vakharia removed the bottom of Flores’ eye socket and a portion of her cheekbone, the release stated.
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“We wanted to develop a surgical plan where there would be no external scars and it would be impossible to tell that the patient even had surgery,” said Vakharia.
After Labib removed the tumor, Vakharia rebuilt the bottom of the eye socket using a titanium plate and rebuilt the cheek with bone from the patient’s hip, the release detailed.
This is an illustration of the patient’s two spinal tumors. (University of Maryland Medical Center)
“It was amazing to have had the opportunity to be part of surgery that had never been done before,” Vakharia added.
This approach also prevented any damage to the eustachian tube, major blood vessels such as the jugular vein and internal carotid artery, and nerves that control swallowing and speech, Labib noted.
Prior to Flores’ surgery, Labib had the chance to practice the transorbital procedure on cadavers “many, many times.”
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“The fact that people are willing to donate their bodies to science enabled us to do this and saved the life of this young woman,” he said.
Flores also had a large tumor around her brain stem, which was removed through two separate procedures via her skull and nose, the release stated.
An illustration of the transorbital path to the patient’s tumors. (Tina Wang/University of Maryland Medical Center)
The spinal tumors could have been life-threatening if they had grown to the point where they caused significant brain stem compression, according to Andrea M. Hebert, MD, a UMCC head and neck surgeon who performed the endonasal procedure and took part in the transorbital surgery.
“Many of these tumors recur, and that’s why we favor a multidisciplinary approach to treatment,” said Hebert in the release.
Flores has also undergone radiation therapy to eliminate any remaining cancer cells.
“Karla is doing really well — she’s recovered from surgery and radiation and is ready to get back to work and school,” Labib shared with Fox News Digital.
“She’s an incredibly brave young woman who has faced more than most her age. I expect that same strength of spirit will carry her into a promising future.”
“Learning about the spinal and brain tumors was terrifying, but I am so grateful the doctors were able to remove them.”
Flores does have some nerve damage due to the tumor’s proximity to the brain stem, which has caused some issues with movement of her left eye.
“Learning about the spinal and brain tumors was terrifying, but I am so grateful the doctors were able to remove them,” said Flores, who plans to go to school to become a manicurist.
Karla Flores is pictured on the left, plus the team of doctors that handled the procedure. (Karla Flores; University of Maryland Medical Center)
“I’m slowly recovering and with any problem I have, they help me,” she continued.
“I keep reminding myself to take one day at a time and know that each step is an accomplishment.”
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Flores now plans to go to school to become a manicurist.
Looking ahead, UMMC’s team plans to demonstrate the transorbital procedure this fall to neurosurgeons from around the world, at their annual Skull Base surgery course.
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“When you have such a broadened corridor to reach these tumors, you can completely remove them, which greatly reduces recurrence of the cancer,” Labib told Fox News Digital.
“We also have other patients who will be receiving similar surgeries in the near future.”
President Trump has long railed against drug traffickers. He has said they should be given the death penalty “for their heinous acts.” On the first day of his second term, he signed an executive order listing cartels as “terrorist organizations.”
But many public health and addiction experts fear that his budget proposals and other actions effectively punish people who use drugs and struggle with addiction.
The Trump administration has vowed to reduce overdose deaths, one of the country’s deadliest public health crises, by emphasizing law enforcement, border patrols and tariffs against China and Mexico to keep out fentanyl and other dangerous drugs. But it is also seeking huge cuts to programs that reduce drug demand.
The budget it submitted to Congress this month seeks to eliminate more than a billion dollars for national and regional treatment and prevention services. The primary federal agency addressing drug use, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, has so far lost about half its workers to layoffs under the Trump administration and is slated to be collapsed into the new Administration for a Healthy America, whose purview will reach far beyond mental illness and drug use.
And if reductions to Medicaid being discussed by Republicans in Congress are realized, millions of Americans will be unable to continue, much less start treatment.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment. The budget itself says that ending drug trafficking “starts with secure borders and a commitment to law and order” and that it is cutting addiction services deemed duplicative or “too small to have a national impact.”
Those cuts are agonizing, public health experts say, because they come just as the country is making sustained progress in lowering the number of fentanyl deaths. Many interventions may be contributing to that progress, including greater availability of the overdose reversal spray naloxone; more treatment beds, sober housing and peer counseling; and declines in the strength and quantity of the illicit drug supply, they say. But studies so far have not demonstrated convincingly which of those factors merit greater focus and investment.
“It would be a tragedy if we defund these programs without fully understanding what’s working and then our overdose rate starts to climb again,” said Dr. Matthew Christiansen, an addiction medicine physician in Huntington, W.Va., a city once labeled ground zero for the opioid crisis.
A letter signed by more than 320 behavioral medicine academic experts, sent Monday to congressional leaders, decried the cuts, including those to “community-based naloxone distribution, peer outreach programs, drug-use-related infectious disease prevention programs and drug test strip programs.”
The president’s budget calls for ending grants for “harm reduction,” a strategy to prevent disease transmission and keep drug users alive that has become largely accepted by mainstream addiction treatment providers.
The budget derides federal financial support for “dangerous activities billed as ‘harm reduction,’ which included funding ‘safe smoking kits and supplies’ and ‘syringes’ for drug users.”
That language is a callback to false reports in 2022 that a $30 million federal harm reduction grant could be used to purchase pipes for smoking crack and meth. In fact, a small portion of that grant, designated for “safer smoking kits,” was for supplies like alcohol swabs and lip balm. The grant also supported programs in states that permit sterile syringe exchanges, effective in reducing hepatitis C and H.I.V. infection rates.
“You can’t just tell people to stop using drugs with a snap of the fingers,” said Dr. Christiansen, a former director of West Virginia’s drug control policy. “These are tools to reduce the harm of opioids while also helping them be successful long-term.”
According to the federal agency’s annual survey of substance use, in 2023, 27.2 million Americans ages 12 or older had a drug use disorder, 28.9 million had alcohol use disorder, and 7.5 million had both.
The budget does leave intact block grants for states to combat addiction and mental illness. But without the agency’s additional grants, hands-on training and monitoring, in addition to possible Medicaid reductions, states will not be able to afford the many medical and social services required to prevent and treat addiction, Dr. Christiansen said.
David Herzberg, a professor of drug policy and history at the University at Buffalo, said that Mr. Trump’s almost single-minded linking of the nation’s drug problems with border issues harks back to late 19th-century America, when the government associated opium dens with Chinese immigrants. Fearing the incursion of Chinese workers and inflamed by press reports of Chinese men using opium to lure young white women into prostitution, Congress severely restricted Chinese immigration.
Then as now, Mr. Herzberg said, political conservatives found that targeting foreign drug suppliers was a muscular means of advancing broader agendas.
In contrast with highly publicized drug seizures, people who chronically use drugs have become afterthoughts, usually visible only as street irritants, their addiction perceived to be the result of their own choices, he said. Elected leaders who advocate for their welfare risk being tarred as soft on crime.
“If politicians are going to stick their necks out for them, I would be shocked,” Mr. Herzberg said.
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Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel discusses the Trump administration’s initiative to develop a vaccine to target multiple viruses and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute studying potential vaccines for strep.
Older adults are being warned against receiving the chikungunya vaccine before traveling.
The Ixchiq vaccination, developed by Valneva to prevent the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in November 2023 as the first of its kind.
The approval applies to anyone aged 18 and older who has a risk of being exposed to the virus.
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But the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a safety notice on May 9 recommending that adults over 60 years old pause use of the vaccine due to fatal complications.
“FDA and CDC will continue the evaluation of post-marketing safety reports for Ixchiq,” the release reads.
Older adults are being warned against receiving the chikungunya vaccine before traveling. (iStock)
“While the safety of Ixchiq for use in individuals 60 years of age and older is being further assessed, FDA and CDC are recommending a pause in use of the vaccine in this age group. FDA and CDC will update the public when the agencies complete their evaluation of this safety issue.”
The advisory follows reports of “serious adverse events,” including neurologic and cardiac events in people who received the vaccine.
Two of 17 events resulted in death from severe complications. One death was caused by encephalitis, or inflammation in the brain, the alert stated.
Those who experienced adverse effects of the vaccine were reported to be between the ages of 62 and 89.
A patient infected with chikungunya looks out from mosquito netting at the Clinicas Hospital in San Lorenzo, Paraguay, in March 2023. The FDA warned that Ixchiq, which contains a live, weakened version of the virus, may cause similar symptoms to chikungunya. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
The FDA warned that Ixchiq, which contains a live, weakened version of chikungunya, may cause symptoms similar to the virus.
Typical symptoms of chikungunya include fever, severe joint pain, headache, muscle pain and a rash, according to the CDC.
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Most people recover within a week, but some may experience “severe and disabling” joint pain for weeks or months.
Chikungunya is spread by the bite of infected mosquitoes. (iStock)
“This virus is in a similar category as dengue or Zika and is carried by the same mosquitoes,” Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel previously told Fox News Digital.
At the time of the vaccine’s approval, the FDA described chikungunya as an “emerging global health threat,” with at least five million cases reported over the past 15 years.
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The FDA plans to conduct an “updated benefit-risk assessment” for Ixchiq use in those over 60 years of age, according to the notice.
Fox News Digital’s Melissa Rudy contributed to this report.
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