Gamma Knife Radiosurgery
Radiation Oncology Consultants (ROC),
in collaboration with our surgical
colleagues and the Alexian Brothers
Medical Center, has brought one
of the most successful Gamma
Knife centers in the country
to the Chicagoland area.
The Illinois Gamma Knife Center
(www.IGKC.org) is staffed by a
skilled team of radiation oncologists,
surgeons, physicists and nurses who
all have specialized training in
the delivery of Gamma Knife
radiosurgery (also called stereotactic
radiosurgery). The Illinois
Gamma Knife Center is equipped
with the latest Leksell Gamma
Knife 4C unit with robotic
technology called the automated
positioning system (APC).
The Gamma Knife is a very
precise and sophisticated tool
used to treat both malignant and
benign intracranial tumors.
Gamma Knife radiosurgery is "surgery without a scalpel"
and employs 201 thin radiation
therapy beams functioning as a "virtual scalpel"
to converge on and accurately treat small
areas of the brain. There is no need
for general anesthesia and no surgical
incision when patients are treated with
Gamma Knife radiosurgery.
Gamma Knife radiosurgery is
used to successfully treat
conditions including brain
metastasis, meningiomas, arteriovenous
malformations, pituitary adenomas,
and acoustic neuromas.
Gamma Knife radiosurgery is
jointly performed by a radiation
oncologist and neurosurgeon.
Gamma Knife radiosurgery involves
the delivery of a single treatment
of radiation therapy and is performed
in one outpatient visit. Patients
typically come to the Illinois Gamma
Knife Center in the morning and have
a stereotactic head frame placed under
local anesthetic. The head frame is
specially designed to very accurately
localize intracranial areas in 3 planes
(the X, Y, and Z planes). Once the frame
is placed, an MRI of the brain is
performed and this MRI information
is transferred to our treatment
planning computers. A conformal
treatment plan is designed to
precisely treat necessary areas
of the brain while sparing the
rest of the brain from high
doses of radiation therapy.
Treatments typically take about
1-2 hours and most patients go
home before lunch time.
Our doctors have specialized
training in Gamma Knife
radiosurgery and have a lot
of experience treating intracranial
conditions using this novel technique.
Please visit the Illinois Gamma
Knife Center website at
www.IGKC.org
for details.
