How does the Gamma Knife procedure compare to neurosurgery for a brain tumor?
Because Gamma Knife radiosurgery requires no incisions and no general anesthesia, the risks of complications, infection or other side effects are greatly reduced if not eliminated altogether. As an outpatient procedure for trigeminal neuralgia, the patient can in most cases, return home by dinner the same day of surgery and resume normal activity. For many tumors and tremors, the actual procedure takes less than 3-4 hours from the time the head frame is affixed to ‘frame off’. The patient usually stays overnight in the hospital for monitoring and observation. It is this factor – the single-day treatment with minor complications – that separates a Gamma Knife procedure from traditional neurosurgery. Patients ‘get on with living’ much more quickly after a Gamma Knife procedure than they would if they underwent a surgical procedure.
