DALLAS, July 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Fifteen years ago, Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas (PHD) blazed new trails in medical technology when the hospital opened the first Leksell Gamma Knife(R) Center in the southwestern United States. Today, more than 2,000 patients with complex brain diseases and disorders have undergone “brain surgery without an incision” at PHD. The medical staff physicians, involved in the hospital’s Gamma Knife Center, are also recognized as some of the most experienced practitioners both nationally and internationally in the use of this technology.
During a ceremony this morning, led by The Honorable Pete Sessions, U.S. House of Representatives, Texas (R), hospital leaders unveiled and dedicated the new Gamma Knife(R) C machine, which was put into use for patient care on Tuesday, July 13. Today’s activities serve to celebrate PHD’s leadership, which began in 1989 with the original Gamma Knife Center’s opening, and the legacy of a commitment to patient care through advanced technology.
“This highly complex technology is just one tool in the well-equipped neurosurgical ‘tool chest’ at Presbyterian Hospital,” said Mark H. Merrill, hospital president. “In the Neurosciences Program, we are committed to providing for our patients, through physicians on our medical staff, sophisticated therapeutic alternatives to care for diseases of the brain, spine and nerves.”
In 1989, when PHD purchased its first Gamma Knife instrument, it was only the twelfth of its kind in the world, the sixth machine in the United States, and the first one in Texas. Today, there are 200 Gamma Knives worldwide treating 30,000 patients a year, according to the manufacturer, Elekta, Inc. Gamma Knife allows physicians on the medical staff to offer brain surgery without an incision -- also called stereotactic radiosurgery -- for patients with complex brain diseases who are appropriate candidates. The instrument focuses multiple beams of radiation to a targeted point in the brain. Each beam of radiation is of low intensity; however, at the point where the beams meet, they have the cumulative strength to damage or destroy tissue.
“The procedure is performed by using 3-D brain-imaging technology to prepare the patient’s individualized treatment plan,” said W. Robert Hudgins, MD, neurosurgeon and medical director of the Gamma Knife Center at PHD. “The instrument’s precision allows abnormal brain tissue, in close proximity to critical brain structures, to be destroyed with very little harm to the surrounding structures or healthy tissue,” he added.
“The new Gamma Knife(R) C machine can offer more efficiency and precision with its Advanced Positioning Treatment(TM) system,” said Richard L. Weiner, MD, chairman of neurosurgery and one of the original founders of the Gamma Knife Center at PHD. “Additionally, what may appear to be a subtle technology change is beneficial to patients through added comfort and convenience, and decreased treatment time for other patients.”
Physicians on the medical staff at PHD can treat certain types of single or multiple tumors and other abnormalities, such as vascular and functional disorders deep within the brain that might not be accessible with conventional brain surgery. The physician specialists involved in planning, imaging, and treating patients are neurosurgeons, radiation oncologists, and neuroradiologists, working in collaboration with nurses, medical physicists, and other allied-health professionals. Patient selection is determined through clinical examination and evaluation, neurodiagnostic imaging studies - such as MRI, CT scan and angiography -- as well as consideration of past treatments and surgical procedures. Being non-invasive, stereotactic radiosurgery doesn’t carry the risks of open surgical complications such as bleeding and infection. Most Gamma Knife procedures are performed on an outpatient basis and are covered by insurance plans.
The Gamma Knife is just one option for treating brain disorders at PHD and is not appropriate for all patients. It is now becoming a recognized alternative to surgery for trigeminal neuralgia, acoustic nerve tumors, meningiomas, and for patients with multiple tumors that have spread to the brain from cancers that originated elsewhere in the body such as lung, breast, melanoma, prostate, and colon. For patients for whom traditional brain surgery is not possible, Gamma Knife may offer the only hope. For more information on brain disorders treatment at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas, call 1-800-4-Presby (800-477-3729) or visit our Web site http://www.phscare.org/ . For more information on Leksell Gamma Knife(R) and Leksell Gamma Knife(R) C, visit the Web site http://www.elekta.com/ . You may also refer to the Web site for the International Radiation Society of America (IRSA) at http://www.irsa.org/ .
About Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas
Established in 1966, Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas (PHD) has provided 38 years of service, is the flagship hospital of the non-profit, faith-based Presbyterian Healthcare System, and is a member of Texas Health Resources. Recognized for excellence in services for Women and Infants, Cardiovascular, Orthopedic, Neuroscience, Digestive/Surgery, and Oncology, PHD is a regional referral hospital for North Texas and beyond. The 866-bed facility maintains approximately 4,000 employees and an active medical staff of more than 1,000 physicians.
Contact: Linda Goelzer, Public Relations 214/345.4960, Pager 214/759.2584 lindagoelzer@texashealth.org
Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas
CONTACT: Linda Goelzer, Public Relations for Presbyterian Hospital ofDallas, +1-214-345-4960, or pager, +1-214-759-2584, orlindagoelzer@texashealth.org
