The Gamma Knife: An Alternative Treatment for Acoustic Neurinomas

Abstract

The issue of the gamma knife as a possible treatment modality for acoustic tumors was presented by Donald B. Kamerer, MD, and colleagues, University of Pittsburgh, at the American Otological Society meeting as part of the Combined Spring Otolaryngology meeting, Palm Beach, Fla, in April 1988. The gamma knife is a stereotactic irradiation source that can focus a series of radiation beams into a small area within the cranium. Their patient group included nine patients with unilateral and four patients with bilateral acoustic tumors. The gamma knife was chosen as the appropriate form of therapy in patients who were either too elderly to undergo a surgical procedure, those with bilateral tumors, or those with tumors in only-hearing ears, as well as those with medical contraindications to major surgery or who simply refused a surgical resection. Kamerer and colleagues reported their results, as well as the results in more than 200