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When you arrive at the hospital the morning of the procedure, you will be started on intravenous fluids. Your surgeon will then affix the stereotactic frame to your head using small pins, about the size of a pencil tip. The head frame is a guiding device which makes sure the Gamma Knife beams are focused exactly where the treatment is needed. You will receive a mild sedation and a local anesthetic for the pin sites are administered prior ot headframe placement.
You will then have the appropriate imaging studies (MRI, CT and/or angiography) to precisely localize the target tissue to be treated in reference to the attached head frame.
While you are resting, your team of Gamma Knife Perfexion doctors and technician utilizes 3-D computer imaging to develop your radiosurgical treatment plan. It will typically take one to two hours to complete.
Once your individialized treatment plan is completed, you are placed on the Gamma Knife couch. The stereotactic frame is then attached to the Gamma Knife machine via a series of interlocks that have been incorporated as an enhanced safety feature. Since the Gamma Knife Perfexion is fully automated, the collimator helmets are now housed inside of the machine itself. This feature gives your doctors the ability to change the size of the radiation beams very easily, which helps to improve the quickness of the procedure.
After all stereotactic coordinates are checked, the couch is moved into the unit by an electrical motor and treatment begins. During the treatment, you will feel no pain.
You will have communication via video cameras and an intercom at all times with your doctor. The treatment time will vary between 20 minutes and two hours depending on the complexity of the treatment plan and number of isocenters required. When treatment is completed, the stereotactice frame is removed and you will be sent to your room after a brief period of observation. Occasionally, you will have to be observed overnight and discharged the next day. You will be able to return to work and full activity the next day.
Treatment Results
Over 400,000 patients in over 200 select facilities worldwide have been treated with the Gamma Knife.
Listed below are treatment results for specific conditions:
- Metastatic tumors: Gamma Knife radiosurgery achieves control rates of 80-85%, essentially comparable to open surgery – without the risk of infection, bleeding or complications – and without a lengthy hospital stay and convalescence.
- Benign tumors: Follow-up of 10 years demonstrates control rates in more than 90% of cases. 53% of tumors decrease in size while 40% remain stable in size. In some cases, combined treatment with surgery and Gamma Knife offers the best opportunity for tumor control.
- Acoustic neuromas (vestibular schwannomas): Up to 98% of tumors either decrease in size or remain stable, with near complete facial nerve preservation, at six-year follow-up.
- Pituitary adenomas: Effective control in a majority of patients; particularly beneficial for residual or recurrent tumors following surgery.
- Vascular malformations such as arteriovenous malformations (AVMs): Complete obliteration of AVMs takes place in 60-70% of patients within two to three years of treatment.
- Trigeminal neuralgia: Initial pain relief in more than 80% of patients; long-term pain relief without medications in 63% of patients at four-year follow-up.
For more information or to find out if this treatment option is right for you, please call our Gamma Knife Center at 501-603-1800.
If you are a doctor who has a patient with trigeminal neuralgia and wish a consult, please call 501-603-1800.
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