Brain Surgery Without an Incision
If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with a brain tumor, it can be a frightening and difficult experience. But getting treatment doesn't have to be. At Sierra Medical Center, we offer Gamma Knife Radiosurgery - a procedure that may be an alternative to conventional open brain surgery.

Gamma Knife is used to treat a wide variety of brain tumors, including vascular malformations, without making an incision into the cranial cavity (skull). It is not actually a knife, but an 18-ton machine that sends 201 gamma radiation beams to a precise, targeted location within the brain.

Most patients only require an overnight stay after treatment, with the actual procedure usually taking just hours to complete. While individual patient outcomes may vary, patients typically leave the hospital the next day.

Am I a Candidate?
Although Gamma Knife Radiosurgery is not new to the medical field, many doctors and patients know little about the actual procedure and what conditions may be treated with it. For more than 40 years, Gamma Knife has been used to treat thousands of patients world-wide for various conditions - from brain tumors to trigeminal neuralgia and more. Future implications for its use are far-reaching and continue to be researched and explored.

What Conditions May Benefit From Gamma Knife?
Currently, Gamma Knife Radiosurgery at Sierra Medical Center is being used to help treat the following conditions:

• Brain Tumors - an abnormal growth in the brain caused by cells reproducing themselves in an uncontrollable manner. There are several types of tumors: benign, meaning "non-cancerous," and malignant, meaning "cancerous." A brain tumor may be primary (beginning in the brain) or metastatic (traveling to the brain from another site in the body).
• Brain Cancer - Generally, the tumor is spherical with defined margins. The character of its growth makes it a candidate for Gamma Knife Radiosurgery. The goal of Gamma Knife treatment is to slow or reverse the progression of the tumor.
• Arteriovenous Malformations (AVM) - Usually formed during fetal development, an AVM is a tangle of dilated blood vessels that can disrupt normal blood flow in the brain and may enlarge over time. AVMs may be treated with the Gamma Knife either with or without other treatments, such as embolization (clotting the target blood vessels.) The goal of treatment is to get rid of the AVM.
• Trigeminal Neuralgia - a disorder of the fifth cranial nerve in which episodes of severe, stabbing pain affect the cheek, lips, gums, chin or other areas on one side of the face. The pain is generally brief (usually lasting only a few seconds to minutes) but is often so intense that the sufferer is unable to do anything for the duration of the attack. Gamma Knife treatment may help reduce the pain associated with trigeminal neuralgia.

Is Gamma Knife for Me?
Once your doctor has made a diagnosis and concluded you are a candidate for Gamma Knife Radiosurgery, the Gamma Knife department at Sierra Medical Center will carefully review the following information:

• Patient's medical history
• Clinical examinations
• Imaging studies (angiogram, MRI, CT scan)
• Previous surgeries and treatments (if applicable)

Because Gamma Knife does not involve a surgical incision, it can be especially useful for patients who may not be good candidates for traditional surgical procedures due to an illness or advanced age.

If you are accepted for Gamma Knife treatment, you will remain in the primary care of your referring doctor. The department will keep your doctor informed of your status by providing progress reports.

Advantages of Gamma Knife

• Brain Surgery Without an Incision
  Gamma Knife allows non-invasive (without opening the skull) brain surgery to be performed with precision while sparing the healthy tissues that surround the abnormality.

• Cost-effective Technology
  Hospitalization for Gamma Knife treatment is short. Patients are typically admitted the morning of the procedure and discharged, usually the next day. Also, many of the expenses associated with conventional surgery, such as convalescence, and sometimes disability, may be avoided.

• Low Risk
  Because Gamma Knife is non-invasive and usually involves only a single treatment, many of the common risks associated with traditional brain surgery, such as hemorrhage and infection, may be reduced.