Gamma Knife Technology

Expanding Treatment Options Worldwide

Since 1968, worldwide use of the Gamma Knife has expanded treatment options for thousands of adult and pediatric patients with brain disorders. The Gamma Knife was first introduced in the United States in 1987. The Gamma Knife Perfexion is the latest and most advanced version of the Gamma Knife machine.  The Robert R. Smith, M.D. Gamma Knife Center was one of the first in the United States to receive the Gamma Knife Perfexion. It was installed into the center in October of 2007.

The Gamma Knife is a stereotactic radiosurgical instrument that delivers a single high dose of precisely focused radiation through the intact skull to a small and critically located intracranial volume. With pinpoint accuracy, 192 beams of cobalt-60 radiation arrest or alter diseased tissue growth inside the brain.

The Gamma Knife Perfexion, which contains no blade and makes no incision, is a sophisticated, dedicated instrument exclusively designed for the treatment of brain disorders such as malignant and benign brain tumors including single and multiple metastases, vascular malformations and trigeminal neuralgia. As a non-invasive treatment for individuals with well-defined patient profiles, Gamma Knife radiosurgery offers a low-risk, safe and cost-effective alternative or adjunct therapy to patients with brain tumors and disorders.

The Gamma Knife is currently being researched for the treatment of the following conditions:

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  Parkinson’s Disease
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  Essential tremor
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  Temporal Lobe Epilepsy
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  Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
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  Intractable Pain
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  Glaucoma
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  Aneurysms
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  Cavernous Angiomas and Malformations

Precision & Safety

Like the previous models, the Gamma Knife Perfexion is considered the “gold standard” stereotactic radiosurgical treatment tool for brain tumors, cancers of the brain and other neurological disorders of the brain. It can destroy arrest or reduce tumors, cause lesions to deteriorate, close arteriovenous malformations, and alter the conducting pain fibers in cases of trigeminal neuralgia—all with out harming or damaging surrounding healthy brain tissue.

Below are just a few reasons that reflect why treatment with the Gamma Knife Perfexion is quickly becoming the best alternative and/or the treatment of choice for some patients with certain brain diseases:

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  Designed specifically for the precise treatment of the brain.
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  Achieves sub millimeter accuracy level of better than 0.5mm by using a stabilizing head frame
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  Uses a state-of-the-art treatment planning software that combines data from three-dimensional computer imaging studies to precisely focus radiation.
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  Can use up to 192 separate beams of radiation to attack lesions in the brain
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  Can treat single or multiple lesions or tumors inside the brain during a single treatment.
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  Provides the best radiation shielding levels that are up to a 100 times better than alternative treatment technologies
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  Only stereotactic radiosurgical devices that is FDA approved to treat brain metastases including multiple mets.

For further details on Gamma Knife technology and treatment, see the FAQs.