What is stereotactic radiosurgery?
Stereotactic radiosurgery is a radiation therapy treatment that uses special equipment to position the patient and precisely deliver a large dose of radiation to tumor tissue, while sparing as much normal tissue as possible. Stereotactic radiosurgery offers a shorter, more concentrated, less invasive treatment routine and is unique in its ability to pinpoint and treat tumors that may otherwise be inoperable due to location within the body, size, or previous radiation treatments to the same areas.
Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is a minimally invasive approach for treatment of benign and malignant brain tumors and other brain disorders such as arteriovenous malformations, pituitary cysts, trigeminal neuralgia and some cases of tremor. SRS involves computer-guided, extremely precise delivery of high doses of radiation to the targeted area of the brain. By avoiding open craniotomy in appropriate patients, radiosurgery decreases risks as well as recovery time. SRS is typically an outpatient procedure allowing patients to resume normal activities immediately. Currently the most widely used systems for SRS are the Linear Accelerators, Cyberknife and Gamma Knife.
Stereotactic radiosurgery is the very precise delivery of radiation to a brain tumor with sparing of the surrounding normal brain. To achieve this precision, special procedures for localization are necessary. These tools include the stereotactic frame, the CT or MRI scanner, a computerized system for calculating the radiation dose, and a precise system for delivering the radiation. How is Stereotactic Radiosurgery different from conventional radiotherapy? Conventional radiotherapy is a very useful treatment modality for many brain tumors. This modality is characterized by: • Large volumes of irradiation (sometimes including a large volume of normal brain) and • Fractionation. Fractionation means that the treatment is divided into multiple smaller doses (fractions) of radiation. The reason for fractionation is to improve the radiation effect on the tumor while minimizing the effect on the normal brain. Normal brain tolerates small, daily doses of radiation relatively well. The tumor doe
Stereotactic radiosurgery is the very precise delivery of radiation to a brain tumor with sparing of the surrounding normal brain. To achieve this precision, special procedures for localization of the brain tumor are necessary. These tools include the stereotactic frame, the CT or MRI scanner, a computerized system for calculating the radiation dose to the brain tumor, and a precise system for delivering the radiation to the brain tumor. Stereotactic radiosurgery offers an important alternative to more invasive treatments for many brain tumors. The role of radiosurgery vs. surgery is determined by many factors. These include the size of the brain tumor, location, how rapidly the symptoms arose, how ill the patient may be (If the patient is very ill, surgery may offer more rapid resolution of the tumor), and the histology (type) of the brain tumor. Radiosurgery can successfully treat many different brain tumors, both benign and malignant. The malignant tumors treated most often are the
