Comparison to Other Sterotactic Surgery
A significant advantage of the Gamma Knife over other available radiosurgical systems is the ability to create conformal and irregular dose plans using multiple isocenters of radiation. These are used often for skull base tumors, but are important for any brain tumor or vascular lesion that is irregular in shape.
Multiple isocenters using narrow radiation beams are used to create a dose line that matches the imaging-defined tumor margin and still maintains a steep falloff of radiation into the surrounding structures. Since at the skull base the surrounding structures include the brainstem and cranial nerves, conformal radiosurgery is crucial to maintain low morbidity rates with high tumor control rates.
*Source: IRSA, an independent organization dedicated to providing educational information on stereotactic radiosurgery to governments, regulatory agencies, insurers and referring physicians.
Did you know?
Today, while other modalities claim parity with Elekta's Leksell Gamma Knife no one can match the depth of experience and proven clinical outcomes of Gamma Knife surgery. BrainLAB's Novalis claims of precision and effectiveness is less well proven after 7 years of clinical use. In addition, the clinical outcomes do not compare favorably against Leksell Gamma Knife. With over 300,000 patients treated to date with Gamma Knife surgery, and approximately 1,900 peer-reviewed published papers, Leksell Gamma Knife remains the pinnacle of performance for non-invasive stereotactic radiosurgery.
Gamma Knife Accuracy and Effectiveness
The Leksell Gamma Knife offers the most effective intracranial dose delivery, with unparalleled accuracy and precision.
- 201 beams converge and focus on the treatment site
- High degree of precision allows a single high dose, limiting damage to surrounding healthy tissue
- Requires no special measures for small field sizes
- Accuracy of the Leksell Gamma Knife is guaranteed by Elekta to 0.3mm for the life of the equipment with 0.1mm accuracy at the radiation point
- Robotic Automatic Positioning System tracks patient position 10 times per second, and positions the patient without user intervention
- Published 15-year follow-up study on patients with substantial long-term results
Journal Articles/Publications
