PR No: 0231118
GAMMA KNIFE RADIOSURGERY
Since 1967 when the first Gamma Knife prototype was used to treat a patient, over a million people worldwide have undergone Gamma Knife surgery with an excellent record of successful and safe treatment. Gamma Knife surgery is used exclusively for the brain, head and neck.
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Gamma Knife radiosurgery is in fact not a knife at all! It is a non-invasive medical technology that uses 192 invisible, intersecting Gamma ray beams of radiation to deliver a highly therapeutic dose to a target with sub-millimetre precision. It is used to treat brain tumours, vascular malformations and functional disorders.
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There is no cutting or incisions made with this treatment. The recovery is quick and the treatment is generally administered on an out-patient basis. A multi-disciplinary team including surgeons, radiation oncologists, radiation physicists and radiotherapists work together to generate an optimal treatment plan, delivering a high dose of radiation to the target while sparing the surrounding normal brain.
No anaesthesia is required, but you may be given sedation to help you relax. The Gamma Knife Unit looks similar to a CT scanner. You will not see, hear or feel the radiation during treatment.
GAMMA KNIFE ICON - The cutting edge of Radiation Technology
GAMMA KNIFE ICON - Patients' Guide to Treatment
GAMMA KNIFE ICON - Patients' Guide to Treatment
FRAMELESS GAMMA KNIFE RADIOSURGERY
Upon arrival at the Gamma Knife Unit, the treatment team will explain the entire procedure in detail. The Gamma Knife Icon model is the first Gamma Knife unit to offer frameless treatment. For this procedure, a facemask is fitted to your head instead of the frame. The facemask is moulded to conform to your face by using thermoplastic material. After fitting the mask to your face, CT and MRI imaging of the brain is done, with the mask on, and another cone beam CT is done just before treatment to make sure that, in the creation of the treatment plan, the target has been precisely located. With the mask system, localisation and treatment need not occur at the same session, allowing the possibility for fractioned (more than one session) stereotactic radiotherapy.
Your specialist may request this option when tumours lie near to critical structures like the optics of the brainstem since normal brain tissue and nerves in the head can tolerate many smaller doses of radiation better than one large dose.
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