Whats my typical day look like with the Gamma Knife treatment?
Day of Treatment • Patient arrives and is given mild sedation. • Local anesthesia is applied to the head where the frame will be affixed. • A Plexiglas box (for targeting) is affixed to the frame and the patient goes to MRI, CT or Angiography to get scanned. • Patient rests while the neurosurgeon, radiation oncologist, neuro-otologist and the medical physicist use the state-of-the-art computer to plot and target the radiation (called a treatment plan). • Once the team approves the plan, the patient is taken into the Gamma Knife vault and lies down on the table. • The physicians place the head frame into the Automatic Positioning System apparatus and the machine is checked and calibrated for the treatment. • Upon treatment, the patient’s table and affixed head frame/helmet all move as one into the machine so that just the head and shoulders enter the apparatus. • Depending on the extent of the disease and location of the targets, treatments can range from between 20 minutes and 4 hours
