Dr. Michael B. Sisti and Dr. Steven R. Isaacson with Registered Nurse Jerry Lesser saw their first patients at the Gamma Knife Center when it opened in 1998 and they have been going strong ever since; they just announced that they treated their 3700th patient.
According to Leksell, the maker of the Gamma Knife, approximately 700,000 patients have been treated by the Gamma Knife worldwide. Treatments date back to 1968 and the number of treatments each year has steadily increased since then.
In particular, there have been significant increases world wide in the treatment of arteriovenous malformations (AVM), metastatic tumors, trigeminal neuralgia, meningiomas, and vestibular schwannomas.
The Gamma Knife isn’t really a knife, but a large machine that generates a highly concentrated beam of radiation that is used to specifically target a lesion in the brain.
In Leksell’s graph below you can see that, to date, most treatments with the Gamma Knife have been for malignant and benign tumors. However, the Gamma Knife has been widely used for: Vascular disorders that include, AMVs, cavernous angiomas, and aneurysms; functional targets that include, trigeminal neuralgia, epilepsy, Parkinson’s, and intractable pain; and ocular disorders such as glaucoma.
Congratulations Gamma Knife Center team on your continued success!
Learn more about our Gamma Knife Center in our previous blogs:
- Gamma Knife Then And Now: 3,000 Patients And Counting
- Check Out Our New Gamma Knife: Upgrade Complete
- RN Jerry Lesser Walks Us Through A Typical Treatment At Columbia’s Gamma Knife Center
