Surgeons in the United Kingdom (UK) have removed a previously inoperable brain tumor from a patient by performing keyhole surgery through her eye socket, Sky News reports.

Mother-of-three Ruvimbo Kaviya, 40, had a meningioma removed from the space located beneath the brain and behind the eyes.

The operation at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is the first of its kind in the UK.

It will give new hope to patients whose cancers were previously seen as inoperable because of where the tumors are situated - in an area called the cavernous sinus.

Similar surgeries have already been performed following the procedure in Leeds.

These types of operations previously involved taking off a large part of the skull and moving the brain to access the tumor, which can lead to serious complications including seizures.

Experts practiced the surgery multiple times by using 3D models of Kaviya's head.

The surgery, known as an endoscopic trans-orbital approach, took just three hours and Kaviya, a nurse in Leeds, was up and walking around later the same day.

She has been left with a tiny scar near her left eye.