Brain Tumor Center of Excellence: The Leading Edge of Treatment
from BestHealth, September 2005
Malignant brain tumors, whether primary tumors or ones that have spread from another site, are among the most challenging cancers to treat.
Since 1999, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center has offered patients a treatment option not available anywhere else in North Carolina—Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). Gamma Knife SRS is a non-surgical, non-invasive method of treating malignant and benign brain tumors as well as a number of other brain conditions including trigeminal neuralgia and vascular malformations.
The unit aims 201 narrow “pencil beams” of radioactive cobalt-60 at the abnormal tissue—focusing precisely on the target tissue and minimizing radiation effects to surrounding healthy brain tissues. The treatment plan is carefully designed by a team of neurosurgeons, radiation oncologists and radiation physicists who use a high-powered computer to precisely conform the radiation dose to the size and shape of the lesion.
This technology was welcome news to Steve Larossa, who traveled from Chesapeake, Virginia, to Winston-Salem for treatment of malignant brain lesions.
Larossa was diagnosed with lung cancer in March 2003 and his right lung was removed. Three months later doctors detected metastatic lesions in his brain. He was treated with whole brain radiation which shrank the lesions but the side effects were significant, including seizures and fatigue.
Despite the whole brain radiation, more lesions were detected in late 2003. Larossa researched his options and found that Wake Forest Baptist has a department dedicated to treating the brain. He came to the Gamma Knife Center and was treated in January 2004. Three months later the lesions were controlled.
“Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery is playing an increasing role as a non-surgical, non-invasive method of treating both benign and malignant brain tumors. It is highly effective,” said Edward Shaw, M.D., chairman of Radiation Oncology at Wake Forest Baptist and co-director of the Gamma Knife SRS Program.
When additional cancer cells from the original brain tumor were detected during a procedure to remove dead tumor tissue, they were treated with another cutting-edge technology. Wafers containing chemotherapy drugs (Gliadel®) were placed into the brain, where the tumor had been.
“We are a Brain Tumor Center of Excellence, with a broad array of clinical and research efforts underway,” said Shaw. “We have a whole arsenal of treatment options at our disposal and tailor each treatment plan to meet the patient’s needs.”
“That was very reassuring to me,” said Larossa. “They have made excellent decisions regarding my treatment. In addition to being extremely competent, these are the friendliest people I’ve ever met. They are kind, attentive, and genuinely concerned about my condition.”
“Knifeless” Surgery
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem is home to North Carolina’s only Gamma Knife. This state-of-the-art technology aims 201 “pencil beams” of radiation with extreme precision at the treatment target, avoiding damage to surrounding tissue. Gamma Knife is often the preferred treatment for conditions such as:
• Acoustic neuromas
• Brain arteriovenous malformations (AVM)
• Benign brain tumors
• Malignant brain tumors
• Malignant skull base tumors
• Essential tremor
• Trigeminal neuralgia (facial pain)
To see the advantages Gamma Knife offers, we invite you to observe an archived procedure. You can view Gamma Knife SRS live on the Web at: www1.wfubmc.edu/gammaknife/SRS.