Gamma knife - what is it? Gamma Knife Treatment

When a patient hears from a doctor the diagnosis of "brain cancer", it sounds to him like a sentence. The first feelings that take possession of a person are confusion, fear, panic. A lot of questions arise immediately. Why me? What to do? How to heal? Will I become healthy?

Operation without blood

Today, most people who have faced trouble can be sure that the disease is curable. The gamma knife will come to the rescue - a tool that can rightly be called a miracle of the twentieth century light. The principle of the advanced technique is based on the action of gamma radiation.

Despite its awesome name, it's a bloodless knife. The method of treatment with its help does not provide for surgical intervention. It belongs to the category of stereotaxic surgery, that is, the treatment of brain disease occurs without incisions and dissection of the skull. The technology was developed in the sixties of the last century. The development belongs to Swedish specialists and was first applied in a private clinic in Stockholm.

The principle of the stereotaxic method

What is a gamma knife? The essence of the method of radiosurgical treatment is the precise impact of radiation rays on the affected area of the brain. The fundamental difference between innovation and traditional chemotherapy is that irradiation is not a single flux of radiation, but a multiple number of beams converging at one point. Due to this, the maximum concentration of light flux falls on the focus of the disease, and the surrounding tissues remain virtually untouched. To achieve a high degree of accuracy can be due to the fact that the installation gives an error not exceeding a third of a millimeter.

Operation with a gamma knife allows doctors to influence even the most inaccessible areas of the brain without affecting healthy tissues. Using the radiosurgical method, it is possible with equal success to get rid of tumors of any property located in the pituitary or Turkish saddle. For many years of use in the world practice, excellent results of impact on metastatic lesions have been noted. With the same success the treatment of various vascular anomalies of the head, certain eye diseases is performed.

Benefits of treatment

Gamma-knife gives an effect similar in its results with surgical intervention. But it has a number of advantages:

• The operation is performed under the influence of local anesthesia ;
• Treatment is carried out within one day;
• There are no risks of infection and bleeding;
• No hospitalization is required;
• The method has no age limits for patients;
• Ensures normal portability;
• Treatment costs are one-third lower than in surgical operations.

Features of radiosurgery

Stereotactic method gives the maximum effect in cases where the diameter of the lesion does not exceed three centimeters. If the patient site is large, then specialists can decide to remove part of the tumor surgically. Then comes into operation radiosurgery. Gamma-knife can also be used in combination with chemotherapy and, if necessary, repeatedly. Irradiation of the body with this method occurs in small doses and, as a rule, does not cause deterioration of well-being. To achieve the best result in the fight against the disease, there should always be close cooperation between radiotherapy physicians and neurosurgeons.

In the treatment of brain metastases, cases of simultaneous exposure of radiosurgical radiation to several foci are noted. In such cases, the effectiveness of treatment increases with the duration of the procedure. The innovative model of the radial knife Perfexion is able to neutralize several tens of metastatic foci of the brain.

Gamma knife is an alternative or a panacea?

Modern methods of non-invasive imaging enable doctors to make a more accurate diagnosis, according to which to determine the tactics of treatment, including recommending the use of a gamma knife. Comments and opinions of neurosurgeons in relation to this type of treatment are reduced to the fact that this is still not a panacea. It should be used only for certain indications. The result of this application will be the stopping of the disease process. In some cases there is a decrease in the size of the tumor. The radial knife plays a very important role in ensuring the preservation of the quality of life. Stopping the disease in its development, the method gives doctors time and the opportunity to choose a further direction of treatment.

How is a radial knife treated?

Radiosurgical treatment is carried out in one session and consists of several stages.

1. On the appointed day, a stereotactic frame is placed on the patient's head. For accurate fixation and to avoid pain, local anesthesia is performed. Hard fixation does not limit the activity of the patient.
2. Then the procedure for setting the exact coordinates of the tumor occurs. For this purpose, use special tomographs: high-resolution magnetic resonance and multispiral computer. Gamma rays emitted by the apparatus focus on the pathological point, fixing its location. The permissible error in this case is not more than one millimeter.
3. Based on the data obtained, a computer plan for the forthcoming treatment is being developed. Preparatory work takes about two hours and is conducted with the joint participation of a medical physicist and a neurosurgeon physician. If necessary, the group includes a radiation oncologist. The patient should rest at this time.
4. Next comes the gamma knife, treatment with it takes about an hour. In complex cases, the duration of the session increases. In the process of treatment, the patient is conscious and does not feel any inconvenience. If necessary during the medical process, short breaks are made for the rest of the person.

After the end of the radial procedure, the frame from the patient's head is removed and a bandage is applied. The patient does not need to stay in the hospital, the same day you can go home.

People who have undergone the Gamma Knife treatment procedure for a long period are observed by the center's doctors. Physicians evaluate the results of the treatment process over time, noting the dynamics of changes in focal lesions. Depending on the complexity of the disease, control examinations are carried out during the year from one to four times.

Possible complications after applying a gamma knife

The radiosurgical method, on par with other types of treatment, can cause a number of specific complications. One of the most common types can be the appearance of swelling in the brain tissue located in the immediate vicinity of the affected area. The cause of this complication is irradiation with small doses of gamma radiation. Extra attention to the edema usually does not require and completely passes within a month.

Other types of neurological complications on the brain may depend on the type of tumor, localization, size, and individual characteristics of the body.

Where gamma-knife treatment is performed

Today, successful operation of radiotherapy in three hundred medical centers around the world has been noted. The largest equipment equipment in the United States of America, Britain and Japan - about two hundred pieces of equipment. In Russia, only ten years ago there was an opportunity to purchase and install a gamma knife. Burdenko Research Institute of Neurosurgery was the first to open a department of stereotactic radiation. Every day, three to four people receive radiosurgical treatment on the unit.

Radiation equipment was also installed in St. Petersburg. It was there that the second branch, called the Gamma Knife, was opened. Sand complex, where the Center of Oncology, Radiosurgery and Stereotactic Radiotherapy is located. Sergei Berezin, has already been treated on the installation of more than 1,500 patients.

How much does the treatment cost

The high cost of equipment does not yet provide an opportunity to purchase it for other CIS countries and near abroad. Therefore, residents of Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states, the countries of Transcaucasia appeal to Russian centers for help.

Treatment with stereotactic radiosurgery is chargeable. In most countries the cost of medical services is quite high. For example, in an English private clinic, a treatment session will cost the patient an amount equivalent to forty thousand dollars. In the US, the gamma procedure will cost thirty thousand. The most affordable price in Russian centers: the Moscow "Gamma-knife" Burdenko and in St. Petersburg. Here the radiation operation will cost no more than six thousand dollars.