Side Effects Of Gamma Knife Radiation Surgery

What are the side effects of gamma knife surgery.

Side effects of gamma knife radiation surgery.

Gamma knife radiosurgery is not actually surgery at all. Gamma knife is typically a one time outpatient treatment that uses high dose ionizing radiation. Some people may become irritable and fatigued during the course of radiation therapy. Stereotactic radiosurgery srs uses many precisely focused radiation beams to treat tumors and other problems in the brain neck lungs liver spine and other parts of the body.

This signifies that gamma knife radiosurgery for the most part goes very smoothly and there are only minimal side effects. Fortunately not everyone experiences side effects and for those who do side effects are rarely serious. Gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery technology uses many small gamma rays to deliver a precise dose of radiation to a target. Early gamma knife side effects can be divided into common side effects and rare complications.

Gamma knife is used to kill or shrink non cancerous and metastatic tumors in the brain. During the surgery you may feel slight pain and discomfort but nothing overwhelming. Gamma knife surgery is a type of stereotactic radiosurgery which is a form of radiation therapy that aims low dose radiation beams coming from all sides of the head directly at the brain tumor. Assistant professor department of otolaryngology head and neck surgery medical university of south carolina.

The benefits of radiation therapy. Side effects of gamma knife radiosurgery. Gamma knife radiosurgery is most commonly used to treat the following conditions. While the potential side effects often associated with traditional surgery are avoided such as infection incision surgical site pain swelling etc gamma knife radiosurgery can have some potential side effects.

In some cases gamma knife radiosurgery may have a lower risk of side effects compared with other types of radiation therapy and it can all be done in one day compared with up to 30 treatments with conventional radiation therapy. Gamma knife side effects for acoustic neuroma treatment the most common side effect from gamma knife or any form of stereotactic radiosurgery is hearing loss says ted mcrackan md mscr director skull base center. There is no actual surgery or knife involved in this treatment it may be useful for some tumors in parts of the brain or spinal cord that can t be treated with surgery or when a patient s health does not permit surgery. The system allows for a frame based or frameless approach to radiosurgery providing surgeons with more options when treating complex neurological conditions.