Stereotactic radiosurgery is a form of radiosurgery, using ionizing radiation to destroy precisely selected areas of tissue rather than a blade, usually to treat cancer. Swedish neurosurgeon Lars Leksell originally defined it as a single high-dose fraction of radiation stereotactically directed to an intracranial region of interest, where stereotactic refers to a three-dimensional coordinate system that lets a target seen in a patient's diagnostic images be accurately matched to its actual position in the body. When used outside the central nervous system it may also be called stereotactic body radiation therapy or stereotactic ablative radiotherapy.
Facts
Origin YearSourced to the subject's own account Stereotactic Radiosurgery
Filter Results1 entry
FAQs
Is stereotactic radiosurgery actually surgery?
Despite the name it is a radiation therapy technique with no cutting or sewing.
No. Despite its name, radiosurgery is not a surgical procedure. MedlinePlus describes it as a radiation therapy technique with no cutting or sewing, in which focused radiation is aimed at a small area of the body. In its account of the Gamma Knife system, the treatment is carried out by a neurosurgeon, and it is often an alternative to open neurosurgery with surgical cuts.
Is stereotactic radiosurgery used only for cancer?
Gamma Knife radiosurgery is also used for some epilepsy, trigeminal neuralgia and tremors.
No. Treating cancer is the usual aim, but MedlinePlus lists several other problems of the brain that Gamma Knife radiosurgery is also used to treat. These include blood vessel problems such as arteriovenous malformation, some types of epilepsy, trigeminal neuralgia, which is severe nerve pain of the face, and severe tremors due to essential tremor or Parkinson disease. Its listed tumor uses include cancer that has spread to the brain, acoustic neuroma and pituitary tumors. This describes the Gamma Knife system specifically.
Connections
Sources
1. Wikipedia
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia Foundation
2. Radiosurgery (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHistory sectionQuote, History section
Stereotactic radiosurgery was first developed in 1949 by the Swedish neurosurgeon Lars Leksell to treat small targets in the brain that were not amenable to conventional surgery.
Wikipedia: Stereotactic Surgery
Wikimedia Foundationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotactic_surgery, lead sectionQuote, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotactic_surgery, lead section
Stereotactic surgery is a minimally invasive form of surgical intervention that makes use of a three-dimensional coordinate system to locate small targets inside the body and to perform on them some action such as ablation, biopsy, lesion, injection, stimulation, implantation, ra
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.