Indiana's first Gamma Knife patient treated Monday at IU Med Center

An Indianapolis woman is the first patient to be treated with Indiana's only Gamma Knife, a non-invasive technology that uses radiation instead of a scalpel to arrest the growth of tumors and obliterate vascular malformations deep inside the brain.

The procedure was performed Monday (Sept. 8) at the Indiana Lions Gamma Knife Center at Indiana University Hospital of Clarian Health.

Gamma Knife radiosurgery combines a highly potent radiation dose with sub-millimeter accuracy to make it an extremely sophisticated therapeutic tool.

The Gamma Knife is ideal for treatment of many types of benign and malignant tumors of the brain that would be untouchable with traditional surgery.

The patient, Ann Weifenbach, had a tumor treated on her facial nerve. If traditional surgical procedures were used to remove the tumor, Weifenbach would have suffered nerve damage and facial paralysis. Drs. Thomas Witt and Robert Timmerman, co-directors of the Gamma Knife program, performed the outpatient procedure.

The 20-ton Gamma Knife, housed in the basement of the Indiana Cancer Pavilion, was delivered June 2. Technical adjustments to the cobalt-60 source unit and completion of other details were made during the summer in preparation for the initial procedure.

Patients are treated with up to 201 gamma-ray beams. The rays are directed through openings in a stereotactic collimator helmet to a precisely defined target in the brain. Because each beam is not powerful individually, it does not harm the healthy tissue as it travels through to its point of convergence with the other gamma rays. Once the rays converge, however, they gain enough power to destroy the unwanted problem area without affecting the normal surrounding brain tissue.

Tumors or vascular malformations usually can be successfully treated with only one procedure.

The Gamma Knife is ideal for treatment of many types of benign and malignant tumors of the brain that would be untouchable with traditional surgery. It also is used for precision treatment of vascular malformations deep inside the brain and conditions such as trigeminal neuralgia, which causes facial pain.

Placing the Gamma Knife in a university research setting holds great promise for the continued development of innovative treatments. Research continues on its use for treatment of functional disorders such as epilepsy and Parkinson's disease.

For more about the Gamma Knife, travel to this Home Pages' archival site:

http://www.iuinfo.indiana.edu/homepages/1011/1011text/gamma.htm

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