UPMC First in Region to Use Next Generation Gamma Knife for Brain Tumors

6/27/2016

UPMC is the first hospital in the region and the third institution in the United States to treat patients with the Leksell Gamma Knife Icon®. Using a stereotactic radio surgery system (SRS), a type of radiation therapy that condenses the Gamma Knife’s high-power energy on a small area, the machine enables physicians to perform non-invasive, computer-driven, bloodless brain surgery to destroy tumors and vascular malformations once considered inoperable. Despite the name, SRS does not require surgical incisions.

“UPMC’s history of innovation in radiosurgery began in 1987 when we installed North America’s first unit, which we have used to treat more than 14,000 patients,” said L. Dade Lunsford, M.D., director of the Center for Image-Guided Neurosurgery. Dr. Lunsford trained in Sweden under Professor Lars Leksell, the inventor of SRS and the Gamma Knife.

“Each of the five previous generations of Gamma Knife units has improved efficiency and allows us to provide a highly effective option for the many patients who receive treatment each year at UPMC,” Dr. Lunsford said. “With the option of a frame-based or frameless approach for non-invasive cranial immobilization, Icon gives us a new way to treat a wide array of complex neurological conditions, including brain tumors, vascular disease, facial nerve pain and functional disorders.”

The Icon’s SRS uses MRI and other radiological images to identify and target precise locations within the brain to ensure dosage is appropriately distributed to the area, regardless of the position of the patient’s head. This minimizes side effects and enables treatment of larger tumors and those close to critical brain structures.

The Center for Image-Guided Neurosurgery began treating patients with the Leksell Gamma Knife Icon in May. The Center serves as an international training and outcomes analysis site, using the latest generation of radio-surgical technologies and treats more than 650 patients per year. UPMC has trained more than 2,000 surgeons, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and other health care providers in the use of brain radiosurgery during the past 20 years.

Dr. Lunsford is a consultant for and stockholder in Stockholm, Sweden-based Elekta AB, maker of the Gamma Knife Icon system.