Mercy Cancer Services
Radiosurgery Case Review
& Gamma Knife
Thanks to a team of metro physicians and clinicians
committed to patients, some Oklahomans are receiving the best advice
available. Beginning in the fall of 2005, specialists from various
hospitals have been meeting each week at Mercy to map out the best brain
treatment for each patient’s particular case.
The weekly Radiosurgery Case Presentation Conference
evaluates and recommends the most appropriate radiosurgical treatment
options for certain neurological disorders on a case-by-case basis.
“Some of Oklahoma’s best medical minds collaborate
to determine the most effective form of treatment for their condition,”
said Richard V. Smith, M.D., medical director of Mercy NeuroScience
Institute. “Patients have the benefit of multiple physicians, multiple
minds looking at their condition from different directions.”
For people with trigeminal neuralgia, malignant and
benign brain tumors, or malformations in the brain’s blood vessels,
Gamma Knife treatment at Mercy that allows patients to have brain surgery
without any incisions. The super high-tech treatment option delivers 201
precisely focused beams of radiation to the area causing problems.
Gamma Knife is the gold standard for brain
treatments because it’s the most accurate device available. There’s no
incision, no anesthesia, no risk of bleeding and no risk of infection
that goes along with standard brain surgery. Brain tumors generally
require radiation five days a week for three or more weeks, but Gamma
Knife is so advanced and precise that one treatment will usually stop
the growth of a tumor and sometimes shrink it. When you have hundreds of
beams focused on a tumor, it treats the tumor while not damaging
surrounding healthy tissue.
Contrary to it name, Gamma Knife involves no knives.
Developed by Dr. Lars Leksell, a Swedish neurosurgeon, the technology
has treated more than 260,000 patients worldwide. In addition, the
world’s leading neurosurgeons, radiation oncologists and radiation
physicists have published more than 2,000 peer-reviewed articles
attesting to the accuracy, safety and efficiency of Gamma Knife. Future
uses may include treating other neurological diseases.
More than 250 patients have been treated at Mercy
with Gamma Knife. If a patient has a treatment in the morning, they’ll
be home in time to eat lunch.
Patients get all the benefits without the risks of
open-brain surgery. And instead of facing a lengthy recovery, most
patients return to normal activities within a few days.
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