Does Gamma Knife head frame hurt?
What are the Side Effects or Risks of Using a Gamma Knife Head Frame? Most patients do not experience issues following the use of the head frame. However, as with any wound that breaks the skin, you may have itchiness, soreness or redness as your scalp heals.
How is Gamma Knife frame attached?
Before Gamma Knife radiosurgery is performed, a lightweight frame is attached to the head with four pins. The frame stabilizes the head during the procedure and serves as a point of reference for brain scans that locate the treatment target in the brain.
Is Gamma Knife considered brain surgery?
Gamma Knife radiosurgery is a type of radiation therapy used to treat tumors, vascular malformations and other abnormalities in the brain. Gamma Knife radiosurgery, like other forms of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), is not surgery in the traditional sense because there is no incision.
What is Gamma Knife in the brain?
Gamma Knife® is a radiation therapy that uses computerized treatment planning software to help physicians locate and irradiate small targets within the head and brain with very high precision. The treatment delivers intense radiation doses to the target area while sparing surrounding tissue.
What are the side effects after a Gamma Knife surgery?
What are the risks and/or side effects of Gamma Knife surgery?
- Swelling of the brain.
- Headache.
- Nausea and vomiting.
- Numbness/tingling sensation on the scalp at the pin placement sites.
- Hair loss (only occasionally if tumor is close to the scalp and hair follicles are irradiated).
- Seizures.
- Bleeding (brain hemorrhage).
Is Gamma Knife only for brain tumors?
The CyberKnife System can treat tumors in the brain, head, neck, and throughout the body. The Gamma Knife, however, is limited to cancers in the brain and limited cervical spine areas, where movement can be stabilized with invasive head frames.
Can Gamma Knife cause brain swelling?
Some patients treated using Gamma Knife radiosurgery to the head will experience swelling of the brain approximately six months following treatment. This Gamma Knife risk is managed using medication, and neurological problems following treatment are rare.
Can Gamma Knife cause seizures?
Seizures are listed as a risk of Gamma Knife radiosurgery because they do happen in some patients, particularly patients already being treated for a seizure disorder. However, in a study of over 2,300 patients, only nine people, or 0.004 percent, experienced a seizure following treatment.