How quickly will the Gamma Knife treatment work?
The effects of the Gamma Knife depend on the type of target – for most metastatic tumors, they respond within a few weeks or months. Some tumors that are slow growing, may take longer to respond. The overall goal of Gamma Knife radiosurgery is tumor control by using radiation to halt tumor growth by altering the DNA structure of the cancer cells, preventing these cells from reproducing. So consequently, the faster growing the tumor is, the more rapidly this tumor will respond to Gamma Knife; brain metastases shrinking faster than meningiomas or acoustic neuromas.
