Stealth Surgery

Mrs. Novak: He'll play ball until he just can't breathe anymore.

Narrator: Laverne Novak is proud of her husband's passion. At 81, Leonard plays infield for the Kids and Cubs softball team. Every player is 75 or older.

Mr. Novak: I can still hit, but the running I slow down.

Narrator: Last December, Leonard was benched when he learned a cancerous tumor in his sinus area had returned.

Mrs. Novak: That first surgery, he had the face opened up, and he was laid up for quite a while with that.

Dr. Espinola: And here you can really appreciate how close it is to his eye.

Narrator: This time, head and neck surgeon Dr. Trina Espinola used a less invasive technique to remove the tumor, leaving a much smaller scar.

Dr. Espinola: The Stealth system is like a road map, allowing us to get from inside the nose up close to the eyes and the skull base without injuring any of the important structures.

Narrator: Two hundred or more MRI and CT scans of the patient's head are fed into the computer and converted into 3D images. Then a band placed on the patient's head creates an anatomical map.

Dr. Espinola: So I can place a probe in the nose, and although externally I can't see where it is, I know by my image-guided system exactly where it's located.

Narrator: Stealth surgery is less painful, less disfiguring and requires less recovery time. Leonard was out of the hospital within 24 hours, but before he left, Dr. Espinola threw him a curve ball.

Mr. Novak: She told me I couldn't get on the field for one month.

Narrator: A call that's giving Leonard the chance to beat his toughest opponent off the field.

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