The TechnologyThe Gamma Knife® is used to shrink tumors and other lesions on the brain with pinpointed accuracy. It directs 201 focused beams of radiation at the targeted lesion by means of a large helmet-like collimator. A special stereotactic frame is attached to the patient’s head during the procedure, ensuring accuracy. Radiosurgery Specialists offers shorter treatment times through its new model of equipment that is motorized with an automated positioning system.
The CyberKnife® provides a completely different way to perform radiosurgery. It consists of a large and powerful robotic system that stereotactically guides a linear accelerator around the patient, delivering one beam at a time. The system automatically uses X-rays of the patient taken during treatment to tell the robotic device how to compensate for patient movement, this allowing the CyberKnife® to literally ‘track’ the patient. During treatment of extracranial sites, the CyberKnife® tracks motion induced by respiration to produce a singularly precise treatment plan. This remarkable technology is also the secret behind the ability of the CyberKnife® to treat difficult tumors requiring fractionation and tumors of children.
The Radiosurgical Edge: Effective and Non-invasiveStereotactic radiosurgery uses many precisely aimed pencil-like beams of radiation to deliver extraordinarily high doses to the tumor target while sparing normal tissue only millimeters away. Invented in the 1950’s and coming of age during the computer revolution, radiosurgery has been a widely accepted treatment for difficult brain lesions for more than three decades. And with the CyberKnife®, this exciting technology is being applied for the first time to extracranial sites such as lung, liver, kidney, prostate, pancreas and breast.
No incisions are made during radiosurgery, and patients usually return to their normal activities the next day. And because most treatments are given on an outpatient basis for one to five days, radiosurgery will not demand a great deal of time.
Advantages of Radiosurgery
- High success rate for tumors
- Intracranial or extracranial sites
- Higher doses than conventional radiation
- Effective even after conventional radiation fails
- Can treat several tumors in one session
- Can be repeated
- Non-invasive, can be used when conventional surgery prohibited
- Less risk of bleeding, infection or anesthesia
- Usually requires one to five days as outpatient
- Can be used to treat infants and children
Gamma Knife® and Leksell Gamma Knife® are U.S. federally registered trademarks of Elekta Instruments, S.A., Geneva, Switzerland
