In the course of the AN journey and researching treatment options, the various and many terms used can be confusing. The difference between radiosurgery and radiotherapy is one example. It is not uncommon for many folks to use them interchangeably and create uncertainty over what treatment a physician is proposing. I copied the following from the Cyberknife Society web site which does a pretty good job of explaining the difference.
What is Radiosurgery and how is it different from radiotherapy?
Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) combines the principles of stereotaxy, or 3-D target localization, with multiple cross-fired beams from a high-energy radiation source to precisely irradiate an abnormal (oftentimes cancerous) lesion within a patient's body. This technique allows maximally aggressive dosing of the target, while normal surrounding tissue receives lower, non-injurious doses of radiation. The ideal objective is the ablation or destruction of the targeted area without damaging any normal tissue outside of the defined target area. Stereotactic radiosurgery differs from conventional radiotherapy in several ways. The efficacy of radiotherapy depends primarily on the greater sensitivity of tumor cells to radiation relative to normal brain tissue. With all forms of standard radiotherapy, the spatial accuracy with which the treatment is focused on the tumor is a secondary concern; normal tissues are protected by administering the radiation dose over multiple sessions (fractions) daily for a period of a few to several weeks. In contrast, radiosurgery, by its very definition, requires much greater targeting accuracy. With SRS, normal tissues are protected by both selectively targeting only the abnormal lesion, and using cross-firing techniques to minimize the exposure of the adjacent anatomy. Since highly destructive doses of radiation are used, any normal structures (such as nerves or sensitive areas of the brain) within the targeted volume are subject to damage as well. Typically, SRS is administered in one to five daily fractions over consecutive days. Nearly all SRS is given on an outpatient basis without the need for anesthesia. Treatment is usually well tolerated, and only very rarely interferes with a patient's quality of life.Stereotactic radiosurgery has been used for more than 30 years to treat benign and malignant tumors, vascular malformations, and other disorders of the brain with minimal invasiveness. To date, more than 200,000 patients have been treated worldwide with radiosurgery. The success of SRS is based, to a large extent, on the use of a multidisciplinary approach, which requires close interaction between surgeons, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, physicists, diagnostic radiologists, technicians, and nurses. This specialized team is responsible for the selection of appropriate patients for SRS, treatment delivery, and long-term follow-up.
GK and CK , either in a one dose or fractionated ( FSR) treatment ( typically 3 days) would be radiosurgery.Anything that treats over several weeks in very small doses such as IMRT would be radiotherapy
FWIW
Mark
