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The Gamma Ray surgery was developed from the knife experiment. It is a form of brain surgery that uses radiation to destroy spots of tissue in the brain, while giving significant relief to some people with disabling obsessive-compulsive disorder.
This compelled Leksell to consider other radiation sources and he started designing the cobalt-60 gamma unit, which was fully integrated with the stereotactic system. The development of the ‘‘beam-knife’’ took place after Leksell had been appointed successor to Olivecrona in 1960 and the first unit was inaugurated in 1967.
Radiosurgery is surgery using radiation, [1] that is, the destruction of precisely selected areas of tissue using ionizing radiation rather than excision with a blade. Like other forms of radiation therapy (also called radiotherapy), it is usually used to treat cancer.
Stereotactic surgery is a minimally invasive form of surgical intervention that makes use of a three-dimensional coordinate system to locate small targets inside the body and to perform on them some action such as ablation, biopsy, lesion, injection, stimulation, implantation, radiosurgery (SRS), etc.
Surgery of previously irradiated tissue has a very high failure rate, e.g. women who have received radiation for breast cancer develop late effect chest wall tissue fibrosis and hypovascularity, making successful reconstruction and healing difficult, if not impossible.
The device consists of a small linear accelerator attached to a robotic arm, along with an integrated image guidance system. During treatment, the image guidance system captures 3D images, tracks the movement of tumors, and guides the robotic arm to accurately aim the treatment beam at the moving tumor.
Radiotherapy beams are classified by the particle they are intended to deliver, such as photons (as x-rays or gamma rays), electrons, and heavy ions; x-rays and electron beams are by far the most widely used sources for external beam radiotherapy. Orthovoltage ("superficial") X-rays are used for treating skin cancer and superficial structures.
Leeds Gamma Knife Centre is based in the Institute of Oncology at St James's University Hospital in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. St. James's Institute of Oncology (Bexley Wing), a National Health Service (NHS) hospital, is the largest cancer research hospital in Europe. [ 1 ]