Gamma Knife Perfexion: Metastatic Brain Tumor Treatment

What is a brain metastasis?

A brain metastasis, also called metastatic brain tumor, is a cancerous tumor that originates in another part of the body and spreads to the brain. Microscopic cells break away from the primary site and travel to the brain. Brain metastases are the most common type of brain tumor, occurring four times as often as tumors originating in the brain.

As many as 200,000 new cases of brain metastasis are diagnosed in the U.S. every year. Today, people are living longer with cancer, and metastatic brain tumors occur more often. More than half of people with metastatic brain cancer have more than one lesion.

What are the signs and symptoms of brain metastasis?

Some people with a brain metastasis have no obvious symptoms. Others may experience a variety of minor or severe symptoms, including:

• Dizziness
• Headache
• Nausea or vomiting
• Weakness
• Seizures
• Pain and numbness
• Memory loss
• Fatigue

These symptoms can also be caused by conditions other than brain metastasis.

How are brain metastases treated?

Treatment is done to prolong life, alleviate symptoms and improve brain function while causing as little brain trauma as possible. The choice of treatment depends on the type and location of the tumor and the patient's overall health.

Some symptoms can be treated with corticosteroids to prevent swelling of brain tissue and alleviate other neurological effects. Anticonvulsants can be used to control seizures. To treat the brain metastasis, doctors perform surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or a combination of these.

Surgery to remove the tumor may be a good option, especially if there is a single tumor and it can be reached easily, or if the tumor is large and causing symptoms of mass effect.

Radiation therapy treats the brain metastasis by damaging the DNA within the cancer cells. Whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT) can treat multiple large or small tumors and tumors that cannot be reached by surgery. Patients may experience many side effects. Stereotactic radiosurgery is a precise and focused method of radiation therapy that is especially effective with smaller lesions. There are virtually no side effects.

Chemotherapy is usually not effective in treating brain metastases because the blood-brain barrier prevents most harmful chemicals from reaching the brain.

Why you should consider Gamma Knife radiosurgery for treating brain metastasis.

Minimally invasive Gamma Knife radiosurgery is a painless, effective treatment for small to medium size brain metastases that can achieve superior long-term tumor control. With Gamma Knife radiosurgery, much higher doses of radiation can be used to treat the tumor while not affecting nearby healthy brain tissue. One or more small brain tumors can be safely treated in a single outpatient session lasting a few hours. Gamma Knife radiosurgery can be conducted without stopping chemotherapy for the primary cancer.

About Washington hospital

Washington Hospital, located in Fremont, California, was the first hospital in the United States to treat patients using the new Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion™, a revolutionary alternative to traditional open-brain surgery and/or daily radiation treatments, which are administered from four to six weeks. The Gamma Knife Perfexion instead uses focused doses of radiation without making a single incision to treat malignant and benign brain tumors in a matter of hours.

Washington Hospital's Gamma Knife® Program is led by one of the most accomplished teams of specialized physicians, physicists and nurses. Medical Directors neurosurgeon Sandeep Kunwar, MD, and radiation oncologist David Larson, MD, PhD, are both nationally and internationally recognized for their expertise, innovation and leadership in the field of Gamma Knife radiosurgery. Both board certified physicians, together they have more than 23 years of experience performing thousands of successful procedures.