Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion

Brain surgery withouth any incisions

The Gamma Knife® Perfexion™ is dedicated to the treatment of patients with brain disorders such as cancers and tumors, vascular abnormalities, functional disorders and ocular disorders. It is actually not a knife at all, but a radiosurgery medical instrument that uses 192 precisely targeted beams of gamma radiation to painlessly treat the specific area with minimal effect on the surrounding healthy tissue.

That's as precise as a pinpoint

The Gamma Knife involves no incision, minimal pain, and greatly reduced risk for patients. Patients receive a mild sedative, thus eliminating the side effects and dangers of anesthesia. Both the success and safety f the Gamma Knife are remarkable. wth over two decades of documented achievement, no other neurosurgical tool is as impressive.

So you can return home the same day

This simple, painless procedure is safe and effective. You are treated in one session and because the procedure requires no incisions, you can usually return home the same day and resume normal activities after just a few days.

Only here in South Jersey

Receive world-class-neurological care right here in South Jersey... at Cooper.

How the Gamma Knife Works

The Gamma Knife uses ionizing gamma radiation emitted from 192 cobalt-60 radioactive sources to converge on a precise area of the brain. Highly sophisticated computer software is used to determine the size, location and shape of the area to be treated. Only at the point where all 192 beams cross is enough radiation delivered to affect the diseased tissue. Because only the target tissue is irradiated, sparing the surrounding healthy tissue, hair loss is eliminated and secondary reactions such as nausea and epileptic seizures are greatly minimized.

No incisions need to be made to expose the brain, thereby reducing the risk of surgical complications — such as infectionand hemorrhages — and eliminating the side effects and dangers of general anesthesia (only mild sedation is required for the procedure).The treatment is only a single-session procedure which may rarely require an overnight hospital stay, and is usually done in an outpatient surgical setting with periodic follow-up. Patients can resume their previous activities almost immediately. Gamma Knife surgery is much safer than traditional brain surgery, with a much lower complication rate. Of the 33,000 traditional craniotomies performed each year, 3000 of these are fatal or suffer serious complications.

Conditions for Which Gamma Knife Treatment May Be Suitable Include

Intracranial tumors, acoustic neuromas, brain cancer, chondrosarcomas, chordomas, craniopharynigiomas, gliomas, meningiomas, metastatic brain tumors, pineal region tumors, pituitary adenomas, arteriouvenous malformations, trigeminal neuralgia, parkinson’s tremor or rigidity, essential tremor, epilepsy

Advantages of the Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion

While there are other methods of delivering stereotactic radiosurgery, the Gamma Knife® is regarded as the “gold standard” due to its unparalleled ability to guarantee precise and accurate lesion treatment.

• Gamma Knife surgery is unique in that no surgical incision is made to expose the inside of the brain, thereby reducing the risk and removing the trauma of surgical complications as well as eliminating the side effects and dangers of general anesthesia. Only mild sedation is required for the procedure. This procedure is particularly useful in older patients or those with other illnesses where conventional surgery would pose an unacceptably high risk.
• The surgeon uses targeted gamma radiation to destroy diseased tissue in the brain and skull while preserving the surrounding healthy tissue.
• The exposure is brief and only the tissue being treated receives a significant radiation dose, with minimal effect on the surrounding healthy tissue.
• The “blades” of the Gamma Knife are 192 collimated beams of ionizing radiation programmed to target only an exact area with incredible precision — accurate to 0.1 mm at the radiation point.
• Because the unit provides highly accurate irradiation of deep-seated targets, the Gamma Knife technology allows for the treatment of inoperable lesions.
• The Gamma Knife Perfexion™ has the capability to treat intracranial as well as extracranial tumors.
• The success rate of the Gamma Knife is unprecedented. There is absolutely no mortality and minimal morbidity.
• Patients usually return home the same day. This effective single-session treatment is done in an outpatient surgical setting with periodic follow-up.
• Patients can resume their previous activities almost immediately. Hospitalization is only required in exceptional circumstances. This results in a significant cost savings over conventional surgery.
• Gamma Knife surgery involves a team of medical experts from neurosurgery, radiation oncology and radiation physics whose combined expertise and experience guide every procedure.
• The procedure has been found to be 300 percent more accurate than other radiosurgery treatment options.
• The accumulated experience of more than 30 years of Gamma Knife treatments allows for predictable outcomes with a high degree of accuracy.
• The Gamma Knife has been proven safe and effective over the long term and is recognized and covered by insurance plans.