Gamma knife surgery in India

Overview

Gamma knife radiosurgery is now the most accepted and widely used radio surgery treatment in the world for brain tumours or cancers. About half a million people have been treated with Gamma knife surgery, and it's the only Radiation Therapy System cleared by the FDA for irradiating brain metastases.

Gamma knife surgery, despite the name, there is no blade or knife - it's called Gamma knife because radio surgery (one-session treatment) has such a dramatic and precise effect in the target zone that the changes are considered 'surgical.' So there's no incision or blood, and minimal risk of complications.

Gamma knife is the type of stereotactic radiosurgery that uses the strong doses of gamma radiation to treat the part of the brain suffering from the disease. The radiation though powerful, is precise enough that it does not cause any harm to the surrounding healthy brain tissue. It is meant to target only the diseased brain cells.

The gamma knife surgery is effective in treatment of the brain tumours which can be benign or cancerous. It is also widely used for treating the arteriovenous malformations in the brain and other neurological dysfunctions like trigeminal neuralgia.

Gamma knife radiosurgery is the non-invasive and non-surgical procedure as it does not involve any cutting of the tissue and is highly advanced method of radiation therapy that emits high energy beam of gamma radiation to effectively kill the small tumours.

The deep tumours, blood vessel abnormalities and other nervous system problems which neuro surgeons found difficult to tackle with the scalpel due to the location or posed high risk to the patient can now be treated with gamma knife surgery. It has thus given a new hope to patients suffering with brain tumours, Arterio - venous malformations and other functional disorders of the brain.

Candidates

Gamma knife surgery is used to treat the wide array of problems in the brain. It is most commonly indicated in conditions that includes;

Deep brain tumours
Post-surgical residual tumour cells
Pituitary tumours
Arteriovenous malformations
Trigeminal neuralgia etc.

Procedure

The gamma knife surgery for brain tumour is done in following steps:

Examination: You would first need to undergo several tests along with the MRI, CT and pathology test depending on which your surgeon will base the final decision.
Facemask and imaging: depending on the size and location of the tumour a stereotactic face mask, which is custom made, to fit your face perfectly is used during the session to hold your head still. After this you need to undergo the imaging scans wearing the facemask. After the scan, the surgeon will plan the exact dosage of radiation to be given depending on the nature of your tumour.
Planning the treatment: with the help of this recent CT and MRI, the surgeon will determine the appropriate dosage of radiation, size and shape of the beams to match the target and number and angle of the beams.
Positioning the patient: the radiation machine is calibrated for particular treatment regime. You need to relax and lie on the treatment table. The face mask is secured to the table. Any distortion in the position is corrected with the help of stereotactic x-rays and laser.
Delivery of radiation: after positioning the patient, the surgeon will leave the room and operates the machine from control room. The machine will make slight noise and shall move around your head to deliver the radiation beam in one or more directions. The treatment takes 30 minutes or longer depending on the number of targets.

Recovery

Recovery is very swift and pain free after the gamma knife radiosurgery. You may experience mild headache for few hours after the procedure, which is quite common and often occurs as you have not eaten anything. The gamma knife radiosurgery in India is completed in single session and does not require more than few hours. Most of the patients are able to resume their routine activities within 24-48 hours of the procedure with specific instructions given by the surgeon.

The patient can leave the hospital either on the day of surgery or needs a maximum of overnight stay for observation. The patient can resume normal activities almost immediately.

Results

The treatment has excellent success rate, especially for specific site tumours, which is as high as 85-90%. It also has very high success rate for AVM, for which Gamma knife radio surgery is the treatment of choice. Research suggests the obliteration rate for AVMs treated radio surgically through Gamma knife to range between 80 and 90 percent upon two-year follow-up. The procedure has similar high success rates for Trigeminal Neuralgia and other conditions.

Gamma knife radio surgery offers a more favourable quality of life - during and after the procedure, as compared to the conventional surgery.

Time

Gamma knife radio surgery treatment in India is completed in one single session and does not take more than a few hours. The patient can leave the hospital either on the day of surgery or needs a maximum of overnight stay for observation. The patient can resume normal activities almost immediately.

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