Gamma Knife Radiosurgery

Safety and Efficacy

Example of a typical treatment plan for acoustic neuroma - one of the benign brain tumors treatable by radiosurgery.

Unlike the linear accelerator based systems such as the LINAC or cyberknife, the gamma knife has few moving parts thereby eliminating many sources of inaccuracy and unreliability. In addition, because multiple beams are used simultaneously, the treatment time is significantly less than those required using other systems. Compared with external beam radiation therapy, the steep radiation fall-off outside the target area allows the sparing of radiation side effects to neighboring critical structures thereby decreasing the risks of neurological injury and the development of seizures and eliminating the problems of hair loss, nausea and persistent tiredness.