Multi-session Gamma-Knife?

[michaela]

hello,

does anybody have knowledge about multi-session gamma-knife? i saw a neurosurgeon in Athens, Greece, who performs multi-session gamma-knife (with no frame attached. some new machine and new technique, although not cyber-knife!). my AN is actually too big for a gamma-knife treatment, and already pressing the brain-stem, but he maintains that the second time you perform gamma-knife, the tumor won't swell as much as the first time, and also that the multi-session technique will, to a large extent, prevent it from swelling. the good thing, he says, is that due to the multi-session technique, you get a higher overall dosage with less damage to the nerves (as in all FRS). he has performed this technique even on neuromas the size of 5 cm diameter. personally, i am not very much in favour of trying GK a second time and possibly making things even worse, should surgery be required in the future, since i already have quite a long AN-chart. has anybody here had multi-session GK treatment? we are talking about 3 to 5 consecutive days.

michaela


2009 diagnosis (AN 3 cm diameter), 2010: surgery, then regrowth. 2011: GK; swelling, deswelling, then regrowth. AN now 9 ccm - awaiting new treatment (surgery).

[nftwoed]

Hello;

   I've heard of multi-session at San Diego, CA GK Center. There may be other Drs willing to do this, BUT, given the low dosages applied these days, multi-session GK is pretty rare. One might as well have CyberKnife if they want a fractionated dosage of radiation. If it were my choice, I'd choose surgery.
   I'm not sure how to convert your volumetric size ( ccm? ) stated to linear size.
   Best wishes with this, Michaela!

[michaela]

hello, nftwoed,

i gave the volumetric size, because i lack the 3d dimension, shame on me. my AN, at the moment, is 25 x 35 x ?? mm.

micha_

[nftwoed]

Hi Michael;
   
    Once in a while on a group, volumetric size and linear measurement will confuse a poster. If 35 mm. is the greatest of the 3 dimensions, your AN is 3.5 cm. That seems a size some may attempt to radiate. JHH used to draw the line at 3.00 cm. for AN. Radiation Oncologists are a bit more adventurous, however.
   I guess the only way to know about fractionated GK is to ask around?!

[michaela]

exactly. 25 mm x 35 mm, thus 2,5 cm x 3,5 cm.

[PaulW]

Apparently it involves having the headframe remain in place for 3 days!
This is why it's not normally done.

[michaela]

well, this doctor told me he uses a latest technology gamma-knife which works with no frame attached to your head (wearing the frame for 1 week would be a bit bothersome indeed). there is not much information on the internet, i found mainly PR-texts, this one being one of them:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/multi-session-gamma-knife-radiosurgery-gaining-traction-in-north-america-to-treat-patients-with-cancers-in-brain-and-skull-base-130697363.html

[PaulW]

Cool!...
Thanks for that.
Always good to see something new!

[Elizabeth Cuttler]

Hello,
I work at San Diego Gamma Knife Center and the treatment is given in one session.
If for some reason the patient needs to be treated again, it's not right  away. You need to wait for the treatment to work.
I know that several patients went back to their routine one day after being treated, and the are doing great.
I personally am sorry that I wasn't treated with GK for a brain tumor, but unfortunately when I was diagnosed there wasn't a GK Center in San Diego, so I was treated with fractionated radiation for six weeks.  I waited eight years to be treated. I am doing fine, but if the tumor shows some growth, I definitely would be treated with GK.
Fractionated radiation can't be done twice, while GK can be done several times.
I just hope that my tumor doesn't grow. I just had a Brain MRI, and it looks stable. I was treated in 2000, and by then the tumor was too large for GK, and too close to the optic chiasm.
I hope that the day will come when we don't see so many people diagnosed with brain tumors.
I am also the first one in my family diagnosed with three cancers in less than 18 months.
May marks the fifth anniversary of my first cancer diagnosis, and so far I am doing well, so I pray everyday to never have another type of cancer.
I remember how scared I was when my GP told me that I had breast cancer. Now it seems that it was many years ago.
Best wishes to all, and remember that there's always a light at the end of the tunnel.
My tinnitus bothers me more than any of the other diagnosis. It's constant, day and night, and I feel that it's getting louder every day.
If someone can give me some advice about tinnitus, it will be greatly appreciated.
Have a great weekend.

Elizabeth Cuttler


quote author=michaela link=topic=18403.msg979751615#msg979751615 date=1361127309]
hello, nftwoed,

i gave the volumetric size, because i lack the 3d dimension, shame on me. my AN, at the moment, is 25 x 35 x ?? mm.

micha_
[/quote]