1. What is Gamma Knife?
2. In how many places over the world is there Gamma Knife?
3. Who performs the surgery with Gamma Knife?
4. What kind of ailments may be handled with Gamma Knife?
5. What are the most important advantages offered by Gamma Knife?
6. Does the patient benefit thanks to the surgery with Gamma Knife?
7. How can the procedure with Gamma Knife be compared with that of craniotomy/microsurgery?
8. How is the procedure with Gamma Knife?
9. Has Gamma Knife been enough tested, as a therapeutic method, and what have the clinical results been?
10. Where can I find more information about Gamma Knife?

1. What is Gamma Knife?
Gamma Knife is a high-precision instrument, which sends sub-millimetrically focused radiation to some brain lesions, treating them in such a way, that the patient does not have to undergo a craniotomy, that is, a conventional operation. The method, called Radiosurgery with Gamma Knife, offers very important advantages to the patients. It may be used as the only treatment, or as a complementary handling after the procedures performed with microsurgery.

2. In how many places over the world is there Gamma Knife?
More than 100; however, the Gamma Knife Unit of Hospital San Javier is one of the only two ones currently working in Latin America.

3. Who performs the surgery with Gamma Knife?
The "surgery" with Gamma Knife is performed by a multidisciplinary staff including, among many other people, a neurosurgeon, a radio-oncologist, physicists, technicians, and nurses, who are all trained for this kind of procedures at education centers with an international quality level.

4. What kind of ailments may be handled with Gamma Knife?
The indications for Gamma Knife include mainly tumors and vascular malformations. As examples, we could mention: menigiomata, acoustic neurinomata, gliomata, tumors in the pineal region, some malignant cerebral tumors, partially resected tumors, pituitary adenomata, trigeminal neuralgia, etc. Potential indications would be: epilepsy, untreatable pain, and Parkinson's disease.

5. What are the most important advantages offered by Gamma Knife?
First, the astonishing results obtained as for sucessful treatments of extremely risky pathologies representing a technical difficulty, and second, it requires a minimal stay at the hospital, since most of the patients may leave the hospital after twenty-four hours of observation, allowing thus the patient to reintegrate to the daily tasks surprisingly soon.

6. Does the patient benefit thanks to the surgery with Gamma Knife?
Of course, for example: an outstanding reduction of the complication possibilities, an extraordinarily quick recovery with a very brief convalescence period, absence of pain during the procedure, only one treatment session, and a mortality rate of practically 0%.

7. How can the procedure with Gamma Knife be compared with that of craniotomy/microsurgery?
There are many differences between surgery with Gamma Knife and microsurgery. The most important differences are:

Microsurgery
- 5 to 10 days of stay at the hospital
- 2 to 3 days of intensive therapy
- 4 to 6 weeks of convalescence
- Invasive procedure
- Risk of hemorrhage, infection, and other post-operative complications
- Limitation of access to deep lesions

Gamma Knife
- One night of stay at the hospital
- No intensive therapy
- Quick return to the pre-operative way of life
- Non-invasive procedure
- Minimal immediate post-operative risks
- Excellent acces to any area of the brain

8. How is the procedure with Gamma Knife?
The procedure of surgery with Gamma Knife lasts from 2 to 4 hours, and it consists of 4 basic steps:

Positioning of Frame: An stereotactic frame is adjusted around the patient's head. It is used to locate the lesion with a great exactitude.

Obtaining of images: The images of magnetic resonance, computerized axial tomography, and arteriography are taken when the patient has the frame already fixed, in order to locate and specify the lesion in the clearest way.

Planning of treatment: With the help of a computer, the multidisciplinary staff defines the appropriate treatment, conforming the dose according to the lesion's volume, and thus minimizing the risks.

Treatment: The patient is placed on the Gamma Knife table. The unit sends only one focused ionized radiation dose, destroying all the sick cells or stopping their growth. After the procedure, the patient goes to observation for a period of 24 hours, after which, he or she may leave the hospital.

9. Has Gamma Knife been enough tested, as a therapeutic method, and what have the clinical results been?
Nowadays, many clinical studies have already been carried out about Gamma Knife as a therapeutic recourse, and we may say that the results have been, to date, highly satisfying.

There are more than 100 equipments installed around the world (including more than 30 in the US), more than 100,000 patients have received the benefits offered by this recourse, and the expenses are accepted and reimboursed by the most important insurance companies of the country.

10. Where can I find more information about Gamma Knife?
For more information, including a complete list of places where there are equipments installed, revised technology, statistics of treated patients, and bibliography of published clinical articles, visit the international network http://www.elekta.com, or visit us at http://www.sanjavier.com.