Gamma Knife Radiosurgery is a method introduced to medicine by a Swedish neurosurgeon named Lars Leksell. The first patient was treated in 1968 with the Gamma Knife device, whose preliminary studies date back to the 1950s. In our country, treatment was performed using Gamma Knife for the first time in 1997. Gamma Knife Radiosurgery, which has developed since those years and continues to this day, gives extremely successful results when used in appropriate patient groups.
APPLICATION AREAS OF GAMMA KNIFE
It can be applied in some vascular disorders in the brain. The first thing that comes to mind is the condition called congenital vascular lump (AVM). Since it can cause brain bleeding and epileptic seizures, it needs to be treated and Gamma Knife can be used in its treatment. There is another type of vascular lump called cavernoma. It is also used in these. It can also be used in some vascular fistulas. It is used in the treatment of various benign brain tumors. Tumors originating from the brain membrane called meningioma, tumors of the nerve responsible for hearing and balance called Vestibular Schwannoma, and some pituitary tumors are examples of these.
It can be used in the treatment of malignant tumors. The most important of these are cancer types that have spread to the brain from another part of the body, that is, metastases.
It can also be applied in cases of Trigeminal Neuralgia (sudden severe facial pain), which is called functional disorder, or hand shaking, that is, tremor.
STAGES OF GAMMA KNIFE TREATMENT
Gamma The Knife team includes a neurosurgeon, radiation oncologist, medical physicist, technician and nurse. First of all, a stereotactic frame is attached to the head under local anesthesia to keep the head stable. If the patient is a child, the procedure is performed under sedation. After the frame is installed, an MRI is performed, and if there is an AVM, angiography may also be performed. The treatment is planned, the target is determined, and the radiation dose to be applied is determined on the computer. After planning, implementation begins in the treatment unit, which is a separate section. Application time varies between 10 minutes and 3-4 hours. What determines the duration is the volume of the lesion and the amount of radiation dose to be applied. While in some patients only Gamma Knife is sufficient without the need for other methods, in some patients surgery is required and Gamma Knife is applied to the tumor remaining after the surgery. It can be done.
FOLLOW-UP AFTER GAMMA KNIFE
After Gamma Knife is applied, the patient is followed-up. If Gamma Knife was applied due to metastasis, the condition of the tumor is checked every 2-4 months. If it is a benign tumor, the patient is asked to have an MRI once a year. In this way, it is checked whether the tumor in the patient is growing or not. A certain amount of time must pass to see the effect of the treatment because the radiation applied to the tumor needs time to show its effect. While the time required to see this effect in metastasis may be 2-3 months, it may take years in a slow-growing benign tumor. The aim of Gamma Knife is to stop tumor growth. However, if Gamma Knife is used for the vascular ball called AVM, the vascular ball should disappear. It may be necessary to wait 2-3 years for this to happen.
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