Posts Tagged ‘Brain Mets’
Stereotactic Radiosurgery Videos – Bodo Lippitz Prof. Dept of Neurosurgery, Karolinska University Hospital, SWE, Cromwell Hospital, UK interviewed at the Leksell Gamma Knife Society Meeting 2010 in Athens, Greece
Read More here : Stereotactic Radiosurgery – 15th International Meeting of the Leksell Gamma Knife Society
Further Reading - Treatment of Brain Metastases Using Gamma Knife Radiosurgery – The Gold Standard by Bodo Lippitz (PDF)
Photo courtesy of Dr. Jean Régis, Timone University Hospital, Marseilles, France
The refinements in Elekta’s Gamma Knife® surgery technology that created the fifth generation Leksell Gamma Knife® Perfexion™ are changing the approach to treating brain metastases and other brain disorders. With Perfexion, clinicians are applying therapy to multiple metastases in a single session, treating more non-malignant targets located in critical areas and planning increasingly tailored plans to meet individual patient needs. The result has been an upsurge in Perfexion sales and upgrades in North America.
Elekta recently announced its fourth quarter orders for Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion, including Methodist Hospital (San Antonio), Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center (Houston), NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Swedish Cancer Institute (Seattle).
“Since the introduction of Perfexion, 40 percent of Gamma Knife systems in North America are, or will soon be, Perfexion systems,” says Thomas McKay, Senior Marketing Manager for Elekta Neuroscience <http://www.elekta.com/neuroscience> . “The benchmark upon which all other radiosurgery systems are measured, the capabilities of Perfexion continue to evolve, fusing the skills of the clinician with the science of radiosurgery.”
Read more at: http://www.elekta.com/healthcare_international_press_release_20071054.php.
Gamma Knife Perfexion Sector Drive Motors
“We started out using radiosurgery for treating patients with single brain metastases, but treatments have evolved to the point where we are now routinely treating newly diagnosed brain metastasis in patients with up to three or four tumors,” Dr. Chang said.
“Cancer patients in general are surviving longer as more effective systemic treatments become available, but as survival increases, patients are also developing more brain metastases. To help those patients over the long term, we need to safely and efficiently treat brain metastases when they appear while preserving neurocognitive function and minimizing any damage to the brain. Radiosurgery is also chemo-friendly, allowing patients to return to their chemotherapy program with minimal delay.”
Read the entire Article by John LeBas here: http://www2.mdanderson.org/depts/oncolog/articles/09/7-8-julaug/7-8-09-1.html
Elekta offers the world’s most complete portfolio of stereotactic treatment solutions for the treatment of cancer and diseases of the brain, spine and body. The resulting systems’ design and performance reflect decades of leadership and innovation.
Our radiation oncology and neurosurgery customers face the constant cost-benefit challenge of wanting to adopt the most advanced treatment protocols within the constraints of the resources available. Elekta Axesse™ has been specifically developed to help meet this challenge, to bring the highest treatment quality to the maximum number of patients.
Resource management benefits
Caseload versatility • Workflow efficiency • Patient throughput
Treatment quality benefits
Patient safety • Targeting accuracy • Dose escalation • Hypofractionation
A wide range of stereotactic and intensity modulated treatments
Lung • Liver • Prostate • Head-and-neck • Spinal metastases • Large brain metastases
WESTPORT, Sep 04 (Reuters Health) – Stereotactic radiosurgery slows progression and improves survival in some patients with metastatic disease to the brain, according to a report in the August issue of Neurosurgery.
Although chemotherapy helps few patients with intracerebral metastases, external beam radiotherapy, radiosurgical ablation, and surgical removal of metastases have demonstrated some effectiveness, the authors explain.
Dr. Joseph C. T. Chen, of the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, and colleagues reviewed their series of 190 patients who underwent gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery for intracerebral metastatic tumors.
Median survival after radiosurgery was 34 weeks, the authors report, but survival was better among non-melanoma patients (39 weeks) than among melanoma patients (28 weeks). These survival figures are similar to those reported in open surgical series.
Median survival was significantly longer in patients with controlled disease (more than 50 weeks) than with active disease (28 weeks), the investigators note, and in patients with posterior fossa metastases (40.5 weeks) rather than supratentorial lesions (30.3 weeks).
Most metastases followed during the study were controlled for the lifetime of the patient, the report indicates, with only 6% showing late progression and only 6% progressing despite therapy.
“In the absence of clear data demonstrating the advantage of one modality over the other with respect to overall survival,” the authors conclude, “the choice between surgery and radiosurgery must be made on the basis of time, cost, patient acceptance and the availability of the procedure.”
“Radiosurgery should not be considered as a panacea or a miracle treatment,” Dr. Chen told Reuters Health.. “It simply is a less invasive, better tolerated, and safer alternative to open surgical intervention and whole brain irradiation for most, but not all patients with metastatic disease to the brain.”
He added, “We must recognize that just because we are trained as neurosurgeons to use a knife, this may not be the best treatment for all patients. Neurosurgeons must change the nature of their practice to be able to use radiosurgical methods in the treatment of their patients.”
To read the entire article – Visit Oncolink.com
For more information on Brain Metastases, click the link below to process to www.livingwithbrainmets.org – Living With Brain Mets
Local Control of Brain Mets
Recent studies estimate that 25 percent of all cancer patients – particularly patients with melanoma, lung cancer, or advanced breast cancer – will develop brain metastases and require whole brain therapy. While whole brain radiotherapy is a treatment option, it also subjects healthy brain tissue to radiation dosages that may have negative side affects or limit the amount of therapeutic dose that can be applied in the event of a re-occurrence. In addition, whole brain radiation requires an interruption in the chemotherapy treatments that are so important to maintaining tumor control.
Dr. Christopher M. Duma, Neurological Surgeon at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, California will discuss the use of Leksell Gamma Knife® Perfexion™ to treat multiple brain metastases in a single session. Gamma Knife® surgery always has been especially good at treating very small targets with little or no damage to healthy tissue; but Perfexion is able to treat several targets faster and more efficiently making it a viable option of patients with brain metastases. The result is a fast and effective treatment for brain metastases that is easier on the patient, reduces the damage to healthy tissue that may limit future treatment options, and allows for concomitant chemotherapy for optimum primary tumor control.
Stereotactic Radiosurgery of the Spine
While Gamma Knife® surgery was initially invented to treat inoperable cancers and disorders in the brain, now the kind of stereotactic treatment precision established by Elekta can be applied to extra-cranial tumors. Today, the latest advancements in image guidance and dynamic arc delivery pioneered by Elekta combined with Leksell-quality fixation options support Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) and Stereotactic Radiation Therapy (SRT) anywhere in the body to deliver optimal dose to the tumor, while protecting vital organs like the spinal cord.
Dr. Peter C. Gerszten, Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery and Radiation Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and co-editor of Spine Radiosurgery, will discuss the use of Elekta Axesse™ to perform stereotactic radiosurgery for spine and paraspinal lesions. According to Dr. Gerszten, “Axesse is fully optimized for SRS and SRT and therefore well suited for spine radiosurgery, providing patients a fast, safe, and effective treatment alternative or as an adjunct to open surgical intervention.”
More than sixty years ago, Professor Lars Leksell developed a three-coordinate head frame and revolutionized the field of stereotaxy. Twenty years later he conceived of replacing the surgical precision of the neurosurgeon with precisely targeted radiation, and invented the field of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). Today, Leksell Gamma Knife® Perfexion™ is still the benchmark upon which all other SRS methods are measured; Perfexion equipped with Extend Program*™ is capable of treating cancers of the head and neck and lesions previously unsuitable for Gamma Knife surgery; And Elekta Axesse™ supports SRS and SRT anywhere in the body making it a versatile cross-over solution for neurosurgery and oncology .
According to President and CEO of Elekta North America, Joseph K. Jachinowski,
“Since its very foundation, Elekta has sought to develop technology that allowed practitioners to achieve specific clinical objectives. Today Elekta Neuroscience is still developing technology to address the most challenging cases in neurosurgery and oncology, creating new treatment possibilities that are redefining what we call, human care.”
*Extend requires 510(k) review and is not yet commercially available in the U.S.
Visit with Elekta tt the 2009 American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) Annual Meeting, May 4-6 at the San Diego Convention Center,
Malignant – Another term for cancerous cells and commonly refers to a malignant tumor, the main characteristic of which is that it is likely to penetrate the tissues or organ in which it originated as well as move to other sites.
MEG – Magneto-encephalography – a non-invasive diagnostic technique that directly measures the magnetic fields produced by electrical currents in the brain. Click for more on a MEG patient examination
Melanoma – A cancer of the pigment-forming cells of the skin or the retina of the eye.
Meningioma – Benign tumor arising from the intermediate covering layer of the brain (arachnoid) and from the pia along the spinal chord.
Metastases – Secondary growths derived from a primary malignant tumor at a distant site.
Metastasis – 1) Singular of Metastases – 2) The process by which Metastases spread from one part of the body to another via the lymph system or blood vessels. read more @ Livingwithbrainmets.org
MRI – Magnetic Resonance Imaging uses magnetic resonance to produce images of the body.
Where Brain Metastases Occur
A brain tumor is an abnormal mass of tissue in which cells grow and multiply uncontrollably. Primary brain tumors originate in the brain and rarely spread to other parts of the body.
Metastatic (or secondary) brain tumors come from cancer cells in another part of the body and develop as a tumor in the brain. The site where the cancerous cells originated is referred to as the primary cancer.
The diseased cells spread to the brain by moving through the bloodstream and continue growing in their new location. This spread of a tumor to a new part of the body is called metastasis, and the primary cancer is said to have metastasized.
There has been an increase in metastatic brain tumors, as people are surviving primary cancers for longer periods of time.
Roll over areas of the brain to see risk of metastases.
This website is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice and does not address specific treatments or conditions specific to any patient. All health and treatment decisions must be made in consultation with your physician(s), utilizing your specific medical information. The information on this website is subject to change.
- Largest Neurosurgical Center in Russia Acquires Elekta’s Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion February 6, 2012Russia’s first Leksell Gamma Knife® Perfexion™ system has found a home at the renowned N.N. Burdenko Neurosurgical Institute, just a five-minute car ride from Moscow’s Red Square. On June 2, 2011, a 59-year-old woman was the first Perfexion patient, receiving Gamma Knife® radiosurgery to treat tumor tissue that remained following open surgery. Now, eight mon […]
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