Who is a good candidate for the Gamma Knife procedure?
It can be used to successfully treat primary and metastatic malignant brain tumors and other common benign abnormalities of the brain, including brain arteriovenous malformations, acoustic tumors, meningiomas, pituitary adenomas, craniopharyngiomas and others. It was originally designed to make lesions in the brain to treat tremor and Parkinson’s disease and has recently been used to successfully treat trigeminal neuralgia. Lesions that are otherwise considered inoperable or inaccessible can often be treated successfully. The Gamma Knife has better than a 90 percent success rate for lesions most commonly treated with radiosurgery. Recently reported results of a national research study conducted by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group, demonstrated a three-fold advantage for Gamma Knife-treated patients with recurrent cancerous brain tumors in comparison to those treated with other radiosurgical tools now available. Edward G. Shaw, M.D., Chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology
