BALTIMORE — This story may sound graphic, but what we're about to tell you saved a young Rosedale woman's life.
Karla Flores, now 20, started experiencing double vision at age 18.
“For a while, I didn’t know what was happening to my health. It felt like no one understood or even believed that there was a physical reason for my symptoms," said Flores.
That was until she was referred to Dr. Mohamed A.M. Labib, a neurosurgeon at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC).
Turns out Flores had a rare cancerous bone tumor in her spine called a chordoma.
“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,” said Dr. Labib.
Only about 300 chordomas are diagnosed in the United States every year, meaning Dr. Labib had to become innovative.
A situation like this left Dr. Labib resorting to a surgical process he calls "the third nostril," a method he developed while studying cadavers.
In a first-of-its-kind surgery, Dr. Labib and his team removed the tumor through Flores' eye socket.
Dr. Labib felt reaching the tumor from the back could've risked spinal cord damage.
“We also avoided disturbing or damaging key structures such as the eustachian tube, major blood vessels such as the jugular vein and internal carotid artery, and nerves that control swallowing and speech,” he said.
After the tumor was removed, Dr. Kalpesh Vakharia rebuilt the bottom of Flores' eye socket using a titanium plate and rebuilt the cheek with bone from her hip.
Besides the spinal tumor, Flores also had a very large chordoma wrapped around her brain stem, which controls many vital functions.
This required two additional surgeries, one of which doctors conducted through Flores' nose.
"Learning about the spinal and brain tumors was terrifying, but I am so grateful that the doctors were able to remove them. I’m slowly recovering and with any problem I have, they help me,” said Flores.
Medical experts aren't sure what causes chordomas, however they arise from remnants of the notochord, in the precursor of the spine, during fetal development.
