Gamma Knife
What is the Gamma Knife?
The Gamma Knife procedure, a type of stereotactic radiosurgery, bombards lesions with enough radiation to destroy them even in the most critical, difficult-to-access areas of the brain without delivering significant dose of radiation to healthy normal brain tissue. The Gamma Knife delivers a high dose of ionizing radiation emanating cobalt-60 sources. This technique is more precise, precise and non-invasive. The Gamma Knife treatment team includes a neurosurgeon, radiation oncologist, physicist, neuroradiologist, skilled nurses, and occasionally anesthesiologist. The radiation is given to a target previously defined by neuroimaging techniques. The individual beams simultaneously intersect with the accuracy of less than one-tenth of a millimeter (about the thickness of a sheet of paper). Referred to as "surgery without a scalpel," the Gamma Knife procedure does not require an incision or opening the skull.
Used successfully for over 50 years, the Gamma Knife procedure is available worldwide.
What does the Gamma Knife procedure involve?
This is an outpatient procedure which does not requires anesthesia or a surgical procedure. It allows patient to go home on the same day. It is safe and it can be used more than once. The Gamma Knife treatment approximately takes about an hour on average
Patients can usually return to their normal routine within a day of the procedure. Over 95% of patients are treated on an ambulatory basis and do not require hospitalization. In addition to the other benefits of this non-invasive procedure, use of the Gamma Knife may be more cost-effective than conventional surgery. Also, much of the disability and convalescence associated with conventional surgery is avoided.
Who is a good candidate for the Gamma Knife procedure?
It can be used to successfully treat primary and metastatic malignant brain tumors and other common benign lesions of the brain, including brain arteriovenous malformations, acoustic neuromas, meningiomas, pituitary adenomas, craniopharyngiomas and others. It can be safely used in patients previously treated with conventional irradiation. Gamma Knife is used successfully in the management of trigeminal neuralgia.
GammaKnife Video Link: How a Gammaknife Procedure Works
Miami Neuroscience center
Elekta Perfextion