Full Answer
How long does it take to recover from radiation treatment?
The general effects of radiation therapy like fatigue, nausea, and headaches resolve fairly quickly after treatment. Your body just needs time to process the radiation but can recover within a few weeks. Delayed side effects of radiation therapy, on the other hand, may require further treatment to alleviate.
What is stereotactic radiosurgery, and what conditions does it treat?
Stereotactic radiosurgery is a very precise form of therapeutic radiation that can be used to treat abnormalities in the brain and spine, including cancer, epilepsy, trigeminal neuralgia and arteriovenous malformations. Stereotactic radiosurgery does not involve an incision or opening; it carefully ...
What are the side effects of radiation therapy?
Some possible late effects are:
- fertility problems (if you had radiation therapy to the pelvis)
- heart problems (if you had radiation to the chest)
- lung problems (if you had radiation to the chest)
- changes in skin colour
- mental or emotional problems (if you had radiation to the head and neck or brain)
- osteoporosis
- second cancers
What to expect with stereotactic radiosurgery?
What to Expect with Stereotactic Radiosurgery. Before being treated for a brain tumor with stereotactic radiosurgery, you may first have several imaging tests, including an MRI, contrast CT or an angiogram. Your radiation therapy team, including your radiation oncologist, neurosurgeon and physicist, will then use the results of these tests to ...
What are the side effects of radiosurgery?
RisksFatigue. Tiredness and fatigue may occur for the first few weeks after stereotactic radiosurgery.Swelling. Swelling in the brain at or near the treatment site can cause signs and symptoms such as headache, nausea and vomiting. ... Scalp and hair problems.
What is the success rate of radiosurgery?
Stereotactic radiosurgery is an effective modality for treating brain metastases, delivered as either singular treatment or as adjuvant treatment after surgical resection, with 1-year local control rates approaching 90% (10, 11) and minimal toxicity (6, 12).
What does radiosurgery treat?
Stereotactic radiosurgery is a very precise form of therapeutic radiation that can be used to treat abnormalities in the brain and spine, including cancer, epilepsy, trigeminal neuralgia and arteriovenous malformations.
What is the difference between radiotherapy and radiosurgery?
The difference between stereotactic radiosurgery and stereotactic radiotherapy has to do with the intensity and duration of the radiation treatments. Stereotactic radiosurgery delivers radiation at a very high intensity, all at once, to a small area.
What is the success rate of stereotactic radiosurgery?
Whereas two-year success rates for conventional treatment range from 30 to 40 percent, the success rates for SBRT range from 80 to 90 percent — comparable to those of resection surgery but with far fewer risks.
How many times can you have stereotactic radiotherapy?
Like other forms of radiation, stereotactic radiosurgery works by damaging the DNA of the targeted cells. Then, the affected cells can't reproduce, which causes tumors to shrink. Body radiotherapy usually involves between one to five sessions.
Who performs radiosurgery?
The radiation therapist will position you with guidance from the radiation oncologist based on these x-rays. The radiation therapist will then deliver the treatment. Sometimes, x-rays or a CT scan will be taken during the treatment to monitor the position of the tumor. Treatment can take up to one hour or more.
What is radiosurgery to the brain?
Stereotactic radiosurgery is a type of radiation therapy that uses narrow beams of radiation coming from different angles to very precisely deliver radiation to a brain tumor while sparing the surrounding normal tissue.
Does radiosurgery cause hair loss?
Hair Thinning and Hair Loss Hair loss from radiosurgery is rare and does not always change the whole scalp. Your doctor will tell you if he feels you may be at risk for patchy hair loss in certain spots.
Do you lose your hair with stereotactic radiosurgery?
Rarely, some people temporarily lose a small amount of hair if the area being treated is right under the scalp. Rarely, people may experience late side effects, such as other brain or neurological problems, months after Gamma Knife radiosurgery.
Is radiosurgery the same as Gamma Knife?
Gamma Knife radiosurgery is called surgery because the end result is similar to removing a lesion with surgery. The beams of radiation are precisely focused to reach the lesion, with little effect on nearby healthy tissue. The Gamma Knife system is just one type of radiosurgery system. Gamma Knife is a brand name.
Who invented radiosurgery?
Lars Leksell in the original development of radiosurgery beginning in 1951 was a potent stimulus to the entire development of this field. Professor Backlund, a primary disciple of Lars Leksell (and my mentor in Stockholm) was one of the most outstanding initial practitioners of Gamma Knife radiosurgery.
Overview
History
Stereotactic radiosurgery was first developed in 1949 by the Swedish neurosurgeon Lars Leksell to treat small targets in the brain that were not amenable to conventional surgery. The initial stereotactic instrument he conceived used probes and electrodes. The first attempt to supplant the electrodes with radiation was made in the early fifties, with x-rays. The principle of this instrument was to hit the intra-cranial target with narrow beams of radiation from multiple direct…
Clinical applications
When used outside the CNS it may be called stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) or stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR).
Radiosurgery is performed by a multidisciplinary team of neurosurgeons, radiation oncologists and medical physicists to operate and maintain highly sophisticated, highly precise and complex instruments, including medical linea…
Types of radiation source
The selection of the proper kind of radiation and device depends on many factors including lesion type, size, and location in relation to critical structures. Data suggest that similar clinical outcomes are possible with all of the various techniques. More important than the device used are issues regarding indications for treatment, total dose delivered, fractionation schedule and conf…
External links
• Treating Tumors that Move with Respiration Book on Radiosurgery to moving targets (July 2007)
• Shaped Beam Radiosurgery Book on LINAC-based radiosurgery using multileaf collimation (March 2011)
Overview
Why It's Done
- Around 50 years ago, stereotactic radiosurgery was pioneered as a less invasive and safer alternative to standard brain surgery (neurosurgery), which requires incisions in the skin, skull, and membranes surrounding the brain and brain tissue. Since then, the use of stereotactic radiosurgery has expanded widely to treat a variety of neurological and other conditions, includi…
Risks
- Stereotactic radiosurgery doesn't involve surgical incisions, so it's generally less risky than traditional surgery. In traditional surgery, you may have risks of complications with anesthesia, bleeding and infection. Early complications or side effectsare usually temporary. They may include: 1. Fatigue.Tiredness and fatigue may occur for the first few weeks after stereotactic rad…
How You Prepare
- Preparation for stereotactic radiosurgery and stereotactic body radiotherapy may vary depending on the condition and body area being treated but usually involves the following steps:
What You Can Expect
- Stereotactic radiosurgery is usually an outpatient procedure, but the entire process will take most of a day. You may be advised to have a family member or friend who can be with you during the day and who can take you home. You may have a tube that delivers fluids to your blood stream (intravenous, or IV, line) to keep you hydrated during the day if you are not allowed to eat or drin…
Results
- The treatment effect of stereotactic radiosurgery occurs gradually, depending on the condition being treated: 1. Benign tumors (including vestibular schwannoma).Following stereotactic radiosurgery, the tumor may shrink over a period of 18 months to two years, but the main goal of treatment for benign tumors is to prevent any future tumor growth. 2. Malignant tumors.Cancero…
Clinical Trials
- Explore Mayo Clinic studiesof tests and procedures to help prevent, detect, treat or manage conditions.