New Gamma Knife: Faster and Safer Brain Surgery
The University of Virginia Health System is among the first hospitals in the world to install the Gamma Knife Perfexion, which reduces treatment time, background radiation outside the treatment area and can treat an expanded number of conditions.
The new Gamma Knife is the first ground-up redesign in about 30 years for the machine, which is the gold standard for intracranial radiosurgery, says Jason Sheehan, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of neurological surgery at UVa. The minimally invasive instrument uses 192 beams of highly focused Cobalt 60 radiation to target brain tumors and vascular malformations in the brain and cervical spine.
Treatment time for patients with the new Perfexion is reduced by about 20 to 30 minutes, Sheehan says. The new instrument's benefits include better dose planning, which greatly reduces the amount of background radiation reaching parts of the body outside the treatment area, says Ladislau Steiner, M.D., Ph.D., director of the UVa Lars Leksell Gamma Knife Center.
"It's clear that it's an improvement," Steiner says.
The Gamma Knife Perfexion also has the potential to treat a broader array of conditions, Sheehan says, because the machine can now deliver radiation as far down as the seventh cervical vertebra, compared to the second cervical vertebra previously.
New conditions that can be treated include: spinal tumors, tumors at the base of the skull, head and neck cancers and spinal arteriovenous malformations. The new Gamma Knife Perfexion system may also be able to provide leading-edge treatment for multiple metastatic tumors in a single treatment session, Steiner says, as compared to several sessions with the Gamma Knife presently in use. UVa will also be one of three hospitals involved in clinical trials to develop additional indications for the Gamma Knife Perfexion, Sheehan says.
Patients will benefit from the Perfexion's improved dose delivery and from the new instrument's improved comfort features, including a new, more comfortable mattress system.
Leading-edge equipment is most effective, Steiner says, when combined with experienced physicians. More than 5,500 patients from around the world have received Gamma Knife treatment at UVa since its center opened in 1989. Steiner worked with Leksell, the Gamma Knife's creator, to develop the Gamma Knife and its initial clinical applications.
To refer a patient for Gamma Knife treatment, call UVa Physician Direct at 800-552-3723.