Steriotactic surgery:
Stereotatic radiosurgery is the precise delivery of a focused dose of radiation to a specific target within the brain. The single dose of radiation is therapeutically effective, meaning that it leads to the obliteration of the target. The precision achieved by using stereotactic targeting allows the delivery of a relatively large dose of radiation to the target while protecting the surrounding structures of the brain.
The field of human stereotactic radiosurgery has been developed over the last fifty-plus years. Initially designed for treatment of psychiatric problems, it rapidly became a treatment option for brain tumors and vascular lesions (abnormal blood vessels).
Today it is used to treat a number of different kinds of tumors, both benign and malignant, vascular lesions and some functional disorders, including trigeminal neuralgia and certain tremors.
The procedure involves attachment of a frame to the skull. A high-resolution MRI scan is obtained in which both the brain and the frame are visualized. This combined MRI allows for the precise targeting of the lesion inside the brain, all without opening the skull. The treatment plan is developed to assure that the lesion is therapeutically treated while protecting adjacent brain structures.
There is generally a team of individuals including neurosurgeons, radiation oncologists and physicists involved in the plan development. Once the treatment plan has been developed and approved by all members of the treatment team, treatment proceeds. The treatment typically involves thirty to ninety minutes. Some treatment sessions can take longer. It is entirely dependent on the pathology, size and location of the lesion.
Approximately three quarters of the patients treated do not require hospitalization. They can be treated as outpatients. The single treatment session often allows patients from distant locations to return home the same day.
For more information, please feel free to contact the Oregon Brain and Spine Institute by phone, letter and/or e-mail.
