Home Current Issue Previous Issues For Authors Journal Info
Skip Navigation LinksHome > December 2007 - Volume 17 - Issue 4 > CyberKnife Radiosurgery in Neurosurgical Practice
You could be reading the full-text of this article now...
If you have access to this article through your institution, you can view this article in OvidSP.
Neurosurgery Quarterly:
December 2007 - Volume 17 - Issue 4 - pp 273-282
doi: 10.1097/WNQ.0b013e3181540203
Original Articles

CyberKnife Radiosurgery in Neurosurgical Practice

Naff, Neal J. MD, FACS

Collapse Box

Abstract

Gamma Knife radiosurgery revolutionized neurosurgical care for intracranial tumors, arteriovenous malformations, and functional disorders. A new generation of radiosurgical devices exemplified by the frameless, image-guided, robotic CyberKnife (Accuray, Inc, Sunnyvale, CA) extends the benefits of precise, stereotactic delivery of ablative doses of radiation to the spine and other extracranial targets not easily treated by the Gamma Knife. In this review, CyberKnife technology and applications in neurosurgery are described. Eliminating the stereotactic frame allows the CyberKnife to provide a far more comfortable treatment experience for patients and makes it easier to treat lesions in multiple sessions, thereby extending to radiosurgery the potential radiobiologic benefits of dose hypofractionation. Robotic radiation delivery allows treatment plans to be nonisocentric, conforming more readily to complex, nonspherical lesion volumes. The ability to treat extracranial sites may be a significant benefit to neurosurgeons because institutions may be more likely to adopt radiosurgical technology that has applications beyond neurosurgical practice.

© 2007 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.

Login




Help

Forgot Password?

Search for Similar Articles
You may search for similar articles that contain these same keywords or you may modify the keyword list to augment your search.