CRANIAL STEREOTACTIC RADIOSURGERY WITH GAMMA KNIFE – CLINICAL INDICATIONS AND APPLICATION

Abstract

Radiosurgery is a form of radiotherapy in which high dose of ionizing radiation, precisely guided with stereotactic method, is applied in a small tissue volume in the body, aiming surgery-like effect. Gamma knife is the first device in the world especially made for stereotactic radiosurgery treatment. It was designed and has been further developed exclusively for cranial applications and has become a "gold standard" for cranial radiosurgery. In the clinical practice radiosurgery with gamma knife is applied for treating diseases of the brain and other parts of the head – malignant tumors, metastases, benign tumors, vascular and functional conditions.

Here we review the main and some less common clinical indications and applications of the gamma knife technology with concrete examples from our clinical practice, including with the extended capabilities of the latest generation gamma knife – ICON, which is, since the beggining of 2021, already in clinical use also in Bulgaria.