Introduction: Gamma Knife is an instrument specially designed for treating brain disorders. In Gamma Knife, there are 201 narrow beams of cobalt-60 sources that intersect at an isocenter point to treat brain tumors. The tumor is placed at the isocenter and is treated by the emitted gamma rays. Therefore, there is a high dose at this point and a low dose is delivered to the normal tissue surroun...

Acoustic neuromas (AN) are schwann cell-derived tumors that commonly arise from the vestibular portion of the eighth cranial nerve also known as vestibular schwannoma(VS) causes unilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, vertigo and unsteadiness. In many cases, the tumor size may remain unchanged for many years following diagnosis, which is typically made by MRI. In the majority of cases the tumor is s...

Radiosurgery is defined as the use of highly focused beams of radiation to ablate a pathologic target, thus achieving a surgical objective by noninvasive means. Recent advances have allowed a wide variety of intracranial lesions to be effectively treated with radiosurgery, and radiosurgical treatment has been accepted as a standard part of the neurosurgical armamentarium. The advent of frameles...

Development of more sophisticated magnetic resonance imaging scans, the chances of finding asymptomatic patients with vestibular schwannomas as with other intracranial pathologies are increasing. Gamma Knife radiosurgery for vestibular schwannomas has been documented as an efficient and safe procedure based on the treatments in worldwide literature. Preservation of hearing, but not tinnitus, is...

The role of radiosurgery for cavernous malformations of the brain remains to be fully defined. We have used Gamma Knife radiosurgery for selected patients with symptomatic, hemorrhagic malformations in high-risk brain locations. Indications, techniques, and results are presented.

OBJECTIVE The aim of our study is to show that surgery followed by Gamma Knife Radiosurgery is an effective and safe combined treatment for the control of intracranial meningiomas located close to critical structures. MATERIALS AND METHODS This retrospective study followed 31 patients with intracranial meningioma between 2005 and 2010. We included patients when initial therapeutic decision wa...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the neuro-otological effects of gamma knife radiosurgery in patients with acoustic neurinoma. DESIGN Prospective study. SETTING University hospital in Milan, Italy. PATIENTS Thirty consecutive patients with acoustic neurinoma who underwent gamma knife radiosurgery. INTERVENTION Gamma knife radiosurgery. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Results of neuro-otological tests, inc...

The Leksell Gamma Knife [Elekta Corp] uses helmets as collimators to produce four standard beam sizes. The nominal beam diameters are 18, 14, 8, and 4 mm. During computer treatment planning for gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery, the size of the treated volume may differ from the standard beam sizes. To maintain conformality of the isodose curves to the treated volume, beam sizes may be supe...

Introduction: Stereotactic Gamma Knife radiosurgery has been widely used for treating brain tumors. The scattered radiation outside of treatment field (peripheral dose) can induce the secondary cancer to specific organ. This paper investigated the absorbed dose to eyes, thyroid, heart, lung, breast and colon using a Monte Carlo technique for Mird phantom. We also study the ef...

Gamma knife radiosurgery is an effective technique for treating arteriovenous malformations. However, treatment failures can occur as a result of incomplete visualization of the arteriovenous malformation nidus. We describe the use of bilateral femoral artery catheterization and simultaneous dual vessel cerebral angiography to facilitate treatment planning during gamma knife treatment.