"I had gone through so much treatment already," Dan Michaud recalls, " I was not prepared for any more. On top of that the doctors told me that the new tumor was even deeper in the brain."

Dan had melanoma, which had spread to his brain. He had previously undergone conventional brain surgery to remove a large tumor, and then received conventional whole-brain radiation to destroy the disseminated cancer. When he developed a second brain tumor, conventional surgery again proved effective. But sometime later, a third tumor developed, which was deeper and posed substantial surgical risk.

The doctors told him that in his weakened condition, there would ordinarily be only two choices: they could just wait and watch the tumor grow, or they could attempt to take it out at very high risk. But fortunately, there now was a third option -- the Gamma Knife.

Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery

"Gamma Knife technology really added an important dimension to our broad range of capabilities in neurosurgery," says Patrick Kelly, MD, Chairman of Neurosurgery. "Earlier, we pioneered the use of a computer assisted guidance system to pinpoint tumors, which allows us to operate through small skull openings with amazing precision. But for some patients, even this minimally invasive approach involves too much risk. The Gamma Knife allows us to perform surgery on patients whose condition prevents us from opening the skull, and it lets us go where a scalpel cannot safely penetrate."

NYU's new Lekskell Gamma Knife is a revolutionary tool for performing stereotactic radiosurgery on the brain. It uses the most advanced computer systems to create a precise three-dimensional picture of the targeted part of the brain; it then delivers an effective dose of radiation in a single treatment with pinpoint accuracy, while sparing healthy brain tissue. Less sophisticated stereotactic radiosurgery can scatter radiation over a wider area and subject the healthy tissue to potentially damaging radiation.

"The Gamma Knife is vastly superior to other devices commonly used," according to John Golfinos, MD, Director of the Radiosurgical Gamma Knife Center at NYU. "It delivers high-dose radiation with unmatched precision, based on extremely sophisticated MRI technology."

The Gamma Knife is used to treat both benign and malignant tumors, including primary and metastatic malignancies, and arteriovenous malformations. It is particularly useful for treating acoustic neuromas and meningiomas. A newer application is the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia -- severe facial pain that does not respond to medication in about one-third of patients. The Gamma Knife successfully eliminates the pain, while preserving normal sensation.