Gamma Knife Surgery

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XIX

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2. Introduction and Basic Principles

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Introduction

      • Jeremy C. Ganz

      Pages 3-6

   3. Principles of Stereotaxy

      • Jeremy C. Ganz

      Pages 7-18

   4. Ionising Radiation and Its Physical and Chemical Effects on Living Tissue

      • Jeremy C. Ganz

      Pages 19-34

   5. Biological Effects of Ionising Radiation

      • Jeremy C. Ganz

      Pages 35-49

   6. Ionising Radiation and Clinical Practice

      • Jeremy C. Ganz

      Pages 50-54

   7. Development of the Gamma Knife

      • Jeremy C. Ganz

      Pages 55-65

   8. Radiophysics, Radiobiology and the Gamma Knife

      • Jeremy C. Ganz

      Pages 66-75

3. The Patient’s Experience

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 77-77

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   2. Gamma Knife Radiosurgery: A Patient’s Eye View

      • Jeremy C. Ganz

      Pages 79-83

4. Clinical Aspects

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 85-85

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   2. Diverse Clinical Aspects

      • Jeremy C. Ganz

      Pages 87-96

   3. Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformations

      • Jeremy C. Ganz

      Pages 97-111

   4. Acoustic Schwannomas

      • Jeremy C. Ganz

      Pages 112-121

   5. Gamma Knife Applications in and around the Pituitary Fossa

      • Jeremy C. Ganz

      Pages 122-132

   6. Meningiomas

      • Jeremy C. Ganz

      Pages 133-142

   7. Miscellaneous Indications for Gamma Knife Radiosurgery

      • Jeremy C. Ganz

      Pages 143-152

   8. The Future

      • Jeremy C. Ganz

      Pages 153-155

5. Back Matter

   Pages 157-205

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This book attempts to combine many different threads into a comprehensible whole. Since the subject is the Gamma Knife and the author is a neurosurgeon, the field of clinical interest is restricted to intracranial pathology. The discipline of radiosurgery now applies to patients who may reasonably be referred by internists, neurologists, otolaryngologists, endocrinologists and several others. Some of the topics, touched upon, such as stereotaxy and the construction of a radio surgical instrument are unfamiliar to the majority of medical men. Other topics, such as those pertaining to the reactions between radiation and living tissue, are not exactly unfamiliar and yet, for most of us, they are not comfortable areas of expertise: in that we have some basic knowledge but not enough to draw conclusions and interpret. In particular, it is not easy to answer the very sensible questions that patients ask, when being considered for this particular form of treatment. The author has attempted to describe the basic relevant phenomenology in terms that should be readily understandable to a non-specialist physician. To do this, he has been heavily dependent on the expertise of a number of mathematically sophisticated collaborators, who have checked his manuscript. They are named in the acknowledgments section. The relevance of the different sections of this book will naturally be assessed differently, according to the experience and interest of the reader. To simplifY access to the information that is required, the book is divided into three main sections.

• biological effects
• neurosurgery
• radiation
• radiobiology
• radiology
• radiosurgery
• surgery
• tissue
• Radiaton Oncology

"... This book is very well structured and is a good introduction to stereotaxy and ionising radiation as treatment for specific intracranial lesions. It gives basic information necessary to understand the effect, indications and practical organization of a gamma knife intervention and makes it possible to respond to the patient's questions. ... is recommended for those who are performing or starting to perform radiosurgery, and for anyone who wishes to refer patients for such treatment.” European Radiology "... This second edition includes some of the developments in the rapidly changing field of stereotactic radiosurgery ... serve as a very useful starting point ...” British Journal of Neurosurgery

• Department of Neurosurgery, University School of Medicine, Graz, Austria

  Jeremy C. Ganz

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