Gamma Knife Surgery & Procedure

The Gamma Knife is the state-of-the art radiation treatment intended for brain tumors that are small to intermediate-sized, irregular development of blood vessels known as arteriovenous malformations and other kinds of neurological ailments.

In spite of its name, the Gamma Knife is far from a knife, but a machine for delivering a single, unswervingly focused, high-intensity radiation dosage with exact precision on the targeted malicious cell growths, while steering away from adjacent healthy tissues leading to their miniscule or negligible harm. Aberrations about one inch in diameter (alike in size to a small-sized stone) –could be effectually treated using the Gamma knife.

Presently those with grave disorders are given treatment with the assistance of this non-invasive procedure that lasts for a single day and conducted on an outpatient-basis.

The Gamma Knife proffers a highly accurate treatment alongside enhanced patient placation levels and treatment efficacy.

The new-fangled machine lets neurosurgeons carry out treatments on larger regions of the head and neck. Radiation dosages could be conveyed to several targeted locations in a single sitting, averting the requirement for moving the patient or the need for adjusting the machine. This lowers the time needed for going through the treatment and lowering discomfort levels.

Gamma Knife Procedure

The stereotaxy technique facilitates accurate targeting inside the brain with the assistance of imaging techniques like computerised tomography or CT scanning, magnetic resonance imaging or MRI and angiography. These are employed alongside specialised computer-aided devices for providing three dimensional viewing of the target and adjacent brain structures. These images are examined for precisely locating the irregularity inside the brain and then accurately directing the gamma radiation rays on the irregularity.

The treatment employing the Gamma Knife program usually is scheduled to be conducted in the early dawn hours. An intravenous anesthetic administration is carried out prior to the ‘stereostatic frame’ being attached to the head that permits high precision levels during the treatment procedure.

The neuroanesthesiologist who administers the anesthesia would be present through the course of the procedure. The brain images captured would aid in delineating the target that might be more than one location for treatment. A Gamma Knife treatment plan would be created with the assistance of complex computer software.

During the treatment, the patient would be required to lie down on the therapy couch. The patient’s head would be held steady during the course of the sitting when nearly 192 small-sized radiation rays would be concurrently focused on to the targeted spot. The size of the core site could be attuned and several core sites could be coalesced for delivering a high-intensity radiation dosage to a single or several targets irrespective of their shape or location within the brain.

The principle functioning of Gamma Knife treatments in children are analogous to those performed on grown-ups, however specialised care is offered, inclusive of imaging studies prior to starting the treatment and anesthesia customized for kids.

The exposure during radiation in the other areas of the body is significantly low, which makes it the preferred choice among kids and women belonging to the child-bearing age.

Conditions

Anomalies effectually cured employing Gamma Knife involves:

• Benign-natured brain tumors that have slow growth and do not have tendency of metastasizing to adjacent normally occurring tissues like meningiomas, acoustic neuromas, pituitary adenomas, craniopharnyngiomas and low-grade astrocytomas.
• Primary or relapsing cancerous brain tumors inclusive of glioblastoma and anaplastic astrocytoma.
• Lone or several brain metastases.
• Ateriovenous malformations or AVMs.
• Few epilepsy cases.

Patients that are entrants for Gamma Knife treatment are accessed by a panel of experts inclusive of practised neurosurgeons, radiation oncologists, physicists, neuro-radiologists, neuro-oncologists, nurses and radiation therapists.

Factors contemplated in the assessment involve age and overall medical condition, placement and size of the irregularity and past treatments.

Few conditions could be treated employing yet another non-invasive radiosurgery apparatus known as the CyberKnife that employs a robot-assisted arm for delivering high-intensity focused radiation rays. The CyberKnife is employed for treatment of locations of the body like the spine and spinal cord that could not be treated by any other radiosurgery methods.