Stereotactic radiosurgery
Italy – The latest advance in stereotactic radiosurgery – the Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion made by Elekta, is due for inauguration this month at the Neurosurgery Department in Niguarda Hospital, located in the northern area of Milan. This prestigious hospital employs over 700 physicians and 1,500 nurses, and over 50,000 patients are admitted annually, and over 20,000 surgical procedures are performed in 32 operating rooms.
The Neurosurgery Department is one of the most esteemed in Italy and one of the national referral centres for the treatment of cerebral vascular arteriovenous malformations (80 cases annually) skull-base tumours (50 cases) and drug-resistant epilepsy (80 cases).
Under the chairmanship of Professor Massimo Collice, who is also President of the Italian Neurosurgical Society, the Neurosurgery Department at Niguarda will treat tumours and other brain disorders with Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion, based on protocols and treatment data from the approximately 500,000 patients who have undergone Gamma Knife surgery since this method came into clinical practice in the 1980s.
We have evaluated Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion based on the system’s performance at several hospitals around the world, not least in Marseille, France, where our colleagues have more than one year’s experience using this new system,’ Prof. Collice explained. ‘With its unlimited cranial reach, robotic approach and fantastic ability to sculpture the dose to the target, we will get an important addition to our arsenal in the fight against different brain disorders.’ Along with patients with brain metastases, a large number of patients with cerebral AVMs, skull base tumours and epilepsy will also benefit from this new installation.
‘Gamma Knife surgery has become the world’s most widely used radiosurgery treatment due to its extraordinary accuracy, reduction of excess radiation dose to the body, extensive history and clinical documentation. Unlike other systems, invoking compromises in order to be able to treat the whole body, Leksell Gamma Knife specifically is designed to optimize treatment to the head – a fact appreciated by neurosurgeons and patients alike,’ Elekta, points out.
Developed in conjunction with leading neurosurgeons, the company adds that the Leskell Gamma Knife is:
l Precise – thousands of radiation beams converge with a level of accuracy better than 0.15 mm, leaving nearby healthy tissue undamaged.
l Proven – With almost 50,000 patients treated annually, and thousands of peer-reviewed scientific articles, the system has unmatched clinical experience.
l Safe – Unwanted radiation dose to the body is up to 100 times less than that of competing technologies
This article was published on 11/16/2007