"Gamma Knife" Treatment Can Extend Cancer Survival

Many patients can survive for years after undergoing effective gamma knife radiosurgery for cancers that have spread to the brain, according to a new report. As many as 40 percent of patients with systemic malignancies have cancers that spread (metastasize) to the brain, the authors explain, and radiosurgery of these metastases can extend survival to 13 months or longer, depending on the tumor type. Dr. Douglas Kondziolka from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pennsylvania and colleagues assessed 44 patients who survived more than four years after undergoing radiosurgery to determine clinical and treatment patterns that affect the outcome. Gamma knife radiosurgery, which requires no surgical incision, directs concentrated gamma radiation to a specific target, reaching brain tumors once considered inoperable.