What is stereotactic radiosurgery?
Stereotactic radiosurgery is a single treatment of invisible, high-energy x-ray radiation, delivered by a machine called a ‘linear accelerator’ or ‘gamma knife’. It is designed to target a high dose of radiation at your vascular malformation, and minimise the amount delivered to the normal brain around it and the rest of your body. Despite its name, it is not a surgical operation, and does not involve any incisions.
This technique delivers a well-defined beam of radiation to tumor cells. Because the technique is so precise, and normal tissue is avoided, a high dose can be delivered in a single treatment. Radiosurgery is a non-invasive procedure (that is, no cutting of tissue is involved), and is often used when the area to be treated cannot be safely reached by traditional surgery. Stereotactic radiosurgery is often used as a treatment for patients with abnormal blood vessels in the brain (arteriovenous malformations), brain tumors, or other special tumors of the head and neck regions. Stereotactic radiation therapy is accurate to one millimeter or less, does not require surgery, and can be done on an outpatient basis.
