Gamma Knife® Radiosurgery is a leading edge, noninvasive treatment benefitting patients with brain tumors and other brain abnormalities. Gamma Knife® is utilized for the treatment of metastatic brain tumors and benign brain tumors such as meningiomas, pituitary adenoma and schwannomas. Gamma Knife® is also a treatment option for trigeminal neuralgia and arteriovenous malformations of the brain. Gamma Knife® Radiosurgery is a “knifeless” surgery.
Riverside uses the cutting-edge Elekta Esprit technology in the Leksell Gamma Knife, available at the Riverside Radiosurgery Center in Newport News, Virginia. Riverside is the first health system in Virginia to adopt this advanced technology,
The Elekta Esprit upgrade brings the most sophisticated treatment planning for the radiosurgery team, ensuring timely and precise care. The Esprit’s renewed radiation sources deliver precise treatments faster, allowing patients to receive the same amount of radiation in half the time, reducing treatment durations and enhancing comfort. Additionally, the enhanced processing power supporting the Elekta Esprit technology has expanded the upper limit of treatable tumors.
"The Elekta Esprit and the supporting technology allows us to push the boundaries of what is possible in treating brain tumors,” says Martin Richardson, Medical Physicist with Riverside Radiosurgery Center. “With its increased precision and efficiency, we are able to offer hope to more patients, including those with multiple tumor sites, who previously might not have been considered candidates for radiosurgery."
What conditions does Gamma Knife treat?
Gamma Knife treats conditions of the brain and head. These may include:
- Brain Tumors, benign and malignant
- Pituitary tumors
- Arteriovenous Malformations (AVM)
- Trigeminal Neuralgia
- Acoustic Neuroma
- Metastatic Lesions
Each patient’s care is personalized and extensively planned by the expertise of a multidisciplinary team
A multidisciplinary team that includes neurosurgeons, radiation oncologists and medical physicists meticulously plan your Gamma Knife treatment. This team, along with the radiation therapists
and radiosurgery nurses, provide you comprehensive, advanced care before, during and after your treatment.
The radiosurgery team, overseen by a neurosurgeon and radiation oncologist, works with the medical physicists to create the best radiation treatment available. Using medical imaging, the team models the tumor in three dimensions with highly sophisticated computer programs. This allows the creation of a three-dimensional model of your tumor. This model is used to custom design the dose of radiation that conforms almost exactly to the area that will be targeted by the Gamma Knife® and to avoid the impact of radiation on normal structures. The capability for sub-millimeter accuracy allows for your healthy tissue to be protected, resulting in a treatment that is effective and beneficial while limiting potential radiation side effects and toxicity.
How does Gamma Knife work?
The Gamma Knife® utilizes 192 precise beams of radiation (Cobalt-60) that can focus down to a point. Each beam can be customized individually, allowing for precise and conformal treatments for tumors of all shapes. With Gamma Knife®, no incision is made; rather, the radiation is delivered to the target with a level of precision that a human hand alone cannot achieve.
Gamma Knife® technology allows access to deep parts of the brain that are considered off-limits to traditional surgical approaches. Gamma Knife® procedures are virtually painless, and patients recover much faster than with conventional surgery. The absence of an incision eliminates the risk of bleeding and infection, and patients experience minimal discomfort during and after the procedure.
Gamma Knife® Radiosurgery may be performed either as a single treatment or in a series up to five separate fractions. The patient’s head is held still during treatment. This can be done with a frame, a mask or a combination of both. Sometimes, for larger lesions, one treatment will occur in a frame, while subsequent treatments will occur with a mask. Tumor type and size are the main determinants of the different approaches.
Your neurosurgeon and radiation oncologist will determine if a Mask Based or Head Frame treatment protocol is best for your case.
The Head Frame
First, a lightweight frame is attached to your head with small pins. Your head does not have to be shaved. Local and IV sedation is used before the frame is secured in place. The frame assists the multidisciplinary team to accurately pinpoint the area being treated and helps keep the head from moving during imaging and treatment.
Masked Based Gamma
Mask based treatment utilizes a custom mask and accuform, a custom molded cushion which assists the multidisciplinary team to accurately pinpoint the area being treated and helps keep your head from moving during imaging and treatment.