The management of pituitary adenomas entails a multidisciplinary approach that involves neurosurgeons, endocrinologists, and radiation oncologists. Traditionally, the treatment included medical management, surgery (transsphenoidal microsurgical resection and transcranial approaches), and conventional fractionated radiotherapy. Stereotactic radiosurgery, through the various competing radiosurgic...

BACKGROUND Low-grade gliomas are uncommon primary brain tumors, located more often in the posterior fossa, optic pathway, and brain stem and less commonly in the cerebral hemispheres. CASE PRESENTATIONS Two patients with diagnosed recurrent cystic pilocytic astrocytoma critically located within the brain (thalamic and brain stem) were treated with gamma knife surgery. Gamma knife surgery (GKS...

Authors' objectives The objective of this technology review was to assess the efficacy of gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) in the treatment of arteriovenous malformations, acoustic neuroma, cerebral metastases and trigeminal neuralgia, the latter representing a non-invasive approach to precision ablation for benign conditions. The efficacy of gamma knife relative to microsurgery and ...

An inverse treatment planning system for Gamma Knife radiosurgery has been developed using nonlinear programming techniques. The system optimizes the shot sizes, locations, and weights for Gamma Knife treatments. In the patient's prescription, the user can specify both the maximum number of shots of radiation and a minimum isodose line that must surround the entire treatment volume. After satis...

Here, we describe the first reported autopsy findings following gamma knife surgery for thalamic pain. A 62-year-old man presented with thalamic pain after treatment for thalamic malignant lymphoma. He was treated with narcotic drugs, but his pain was uncontrollable. Treatment using gamma knife surgery on the pituitary gland using a maximum dose of 180 Gy, led to the control of his intractable ...

OBJECTIVE To discuss the treatment effects and costs of surgery and Gamma Knife on hippocampal sclerosis (HS)-induced intractable epilepsy of children below age 10 years. METHODS The children below age 10 years who suffered from HS-induced intractable epilepsy from June 2010 to June 2012 were subjected to surgical and Gamma Knife treatments respectively according to their preference. RESULT...

Stereotactically delivered radiation is now an accepted treatment for patients with acoustic neuroma. In some cases, patient preference may be the reason for its selection, while in others neurosurgeons may select it for patients who are elderly or have significant risk factors for conventional surgery. The majority of patients with acoustic neuroma treatment with stereotactic radiosurgery have...

Background/Aims: Constant pain, especially if prominent, is sometimes considered incompatible with a diagnosis of typical idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia. This study aims to clarify the frequency of patient-reported constant pain in patients with medically intractable, typical, idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia as diagnosed with standard clinical parameters and confirmed by the response to a modi...

Stereotactic radiosurgery with the gamma knife delivers focused radiation from a cobalt-60 source in a single session to a pituitary tumour with minimal radiation to the adjacent normal brain tissue. Currently, gamma knife radiosurgery is predominantly used to treat failed pituitary surgery, although it has a role as a primary treatment for patients unwilling or unsuitable, for medical reasons,...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Gamma knife radiosurgery has become an important treatment option for vestibular schwannoma. The effect of treatment can be assessed only by neuroimaging. We analyzed the evolution of follow-up MR imaging findings after gamma knife radiosurgery to provide information for the clinical management of these tumors. METHODS Changes in tumor volume and enhancement were assess...