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The History of Stereotactic Radiosurgery

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Principles and Practice of Stereotactic Radiosurgery

Abstract

Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is now at the cutting edge of radiation therapy techniques and is used to treat a variety of intracranial and extracranial conditions. It began as an esoteric field pioneered by a group of dedicated neurosurgeons and physicists, who experimented with various stereotactic devices, imaging techniques, and radiation energy sources. These efforts culminated in the introduction of the first stereotactic radiosurgical apparatus in 1951, which spurred the continued growth and refinement of the modality. As SRS was accepted by practitioners around the world, new technological innovations in imaging, beam targeting, and dose conformity greatly improved treatment precision and patient comfort. This opened the door to extracranial treatments. More importantly, dose fractionation became common, which forced organized radiosurgery to reexamine the traditional definition of SRS. Ultimately, SRS has evolved tremendously in the past 60 years and now stands as a noninvasive, precise, cost-effective, and highly versatile therapy.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Hofstra North Shore LIJ School of Medicine, Manhasset, NY, USA

    Marina Kushnirsky B.A. & Michael Schulder M.D.

  2. Department of Information Technology, Commonwealth Care Alliance, Boston, MA, USA

    Vaibhav Patil M.D., M.S.

Authors
  1. Marina Kushnirsky B.A.
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  2. Vaibhav Patil M.D., M.S.
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  3. Michael Schulder M.D.
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Schulder M.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, USA

    Lawrence S. Chin

  2. Dept. of Radiation Oncology, Univ. of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    William F. Regine

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Kushnirsky, M., Patil, V., Schulder, M. (2015). The History of Stereotactic Radiosurgery. In: Chin, L., Regine, W. (eds) Principles and Practice of Stereotactic Radiosurgery. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8363-2_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8363-2_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-8362-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-8363-2

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