Gamma Knife Stereotactic Radiosurgery
I found an excellent resource on the web for those of you who are considering gamma knife stereotactic radio surgery. It is a comprehensive video website presentation of an actual procedure; including the entire planning process. Make sure that you have Real Player installed on your computer. For a free download of Real Player, click here. Once you have Real Player installed on your computer, click here to read about this video:
Wake Forest video of gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery
Click on the View Archived Webcast button and the video should start to download on your machine. If you are considering this procedure, you are going to want to view this.
In the year 2005 100,417 patients where treated with gamma knife in north and south america. Tumors treated were both benign and malignant. Of the 29,332 benign tumors treated, this is the breakdown:
- Meningioma 43%
- Vestibular Schwannoma 31%
- Pituatary Adenoma 14%
- Other, Benign 12%
The breakdown for the 44,960 malignant tumors treated is:
- Metastatic Tumors 78%
- Malignant Glial Tumors 18%
- Other Malignant 4%
There were also 76 cases of uveal melanoma treated with gamma knife. I can tell you that these statistics have increased considerably in 2006.
So, is this treatment right for you? Yale-New Haven has put together a good FAQ about Gamma Knife:
Is Gamma Knife right for me?
You can also watch another video and read more information at the Leskell Gamma Knife website:
Stereotactic Radiosurgery
Now, you will at least be armed with plenty of information before making your decision. If you choose this treatment, please come back here and share your experiences with it.
Take Care, Sharon www.rare-cancer.org