New, non-invasive surgical procedure to eliminate epilepti...( ures with significant improvement in t...),Health

Gamma Knife radiosurgery eliminates many of the risks inherent with traditional surgery because it is non-invasive. The radiation is diffused through a 300-pound collimator helmet, which resembles a large version of the kitchen colander. The patient's head is placed inside the helmet and held fast at four points to the skull. Each of the "drain holes" is actually an aperture that creates beams of varying strength and diameter allowing precise delineation of the area to be treated. When the individual beams converge, that area receives the full treatment dose of gamma radiation. Treatment time is much less than that of traditional surgery and the recovery period usually involves only one over-night hospital stay. Faculty members from the IU Departments of Neurology, Neurosurgery, Neuroradiology and Radiation Oncology are involved in the clinical trial.

Treatments will be done in the Indiana Lions Gamma Knife Center at the Indiana Cancer Pavilion. The center is directed by Robert Timmerman, M.D., assistant professor of radiation oncology, and Thomas Witt, M.D., associate professor of neurosurgery.

IU School of Medicine was the first in the state to use Gamma Knife radiosurgery technology. The first patient in Indiana was treated in September 1997 and since then more than 500 patients with benign and malignant brain tumors, vascular malformations or facial pain, such as trigeminal neuralgia, have been treated with this sophisticated technology.

Recent advances in neuroradiology have made it possible to more precisely evaluate the function of different regions of the brain leading to advanced treatments such as radiosurgery for epilepsy.

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Contact: Mary Hardin
mhardin@iupui.edu
317-274-7722
Indiana University
3-Jun-2002