Newswise — DALLAS – March 27, 2017 – Patsy Whittenberg made the six-hour drive from the Texas Panhandle to UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas to take advantage of a first for Texas – the latest in Gamma Knife surgery that better protects surrounding brain tissue and offers greater comfort without the need for head restraints.
“This machine was a blessing for me. I had my eyes closed and didn’t even know when I entered the machine,” said Mrs. Whittenberg, 77, whose sinus tumor was treated. “No pain, no side effects.”
For decades, Gamma Knife radiosurgery has been the gold standard for cancer patients with inoperable brain tumors or brain metastases. But head restraints required by previous models were not only a bit intimidating, but couldn’t be used daily or left on for extended periods, restricting how treatments were delivered.
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“To make the treatment as accurate as possible, I had to lie absolutely still. I couldn’t move even an itty-bitty bit,” said Mrs. Whittenberg.
Physicians from both the Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute and the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center collaborate on the new treatments. The newer model, called the Gamma Knife Icon, doesn’t require the head restraints. Instead, it uses cone beam CT imaging to verify patient positioning prior to treatment, and continuous monitoring to further ensure submillimeter accuracy.
“Our new Gamma Knife Icon, the sixth and latest generation of the device, has been specifically designed to deliver a highly effective dose of radiation with the lowest possible radiation exposure to the surrounding normal brain and cranial nerves,” said Dr. Bruce Mickey, who directs the Annette G. Strauss Center for Neuro-Oncology, part of the O’Donnell Brain Institute.
The technology allows doctors to spread out the radiation treatments in smaller doses, known as fractionated treatments.
“Radiation is more tolerable to normal tissues if given in multiple smaller daily doses called ‘fractions’ as compared to single potent doses called radiosurgery,” explained Dr. Robert Timmerman, who directs the Annette Simmons Stereotactic Treatment Center at Zale Lipshy University Hospital, where the technology is located.
“Some targets in patients are located near, or even intermingled with, normal tissue, making radiosurgery difficult to tolerate. Fractionating the treatment can be useful in these circumstances,” said Dr. Timmerman, Professor of Radiation Oncology and Neurological Surgery, and a member of both the O’Donnell Brain Institute and the Simmons Cancer Center.
