New brain surgery technique 'like having the lights turned on' for surgeons

The patient was well medicated and frozen, but awake, as Ottawa neurosurgeon Dr. John Sinclair drilled carefully into his skull. When the drilling was done, a five by five centimetre piece of bone was removed revealing a brain tumour that glowed fluorescent orange and pink.
The surgery, performed last month at The Ottawa Hospital, was the first of its kind in Canada aside from clinical trials. A few hours before surgery, the patient had consumed a drink containing the drug 5-ALA (aminolevulinic