gammaknife or cyber knife?

tenten

My dad had a lung met. tumor removed (rt.temp lobe)surgically on 6/28/05. A recent MRI showed 3 new small lesions: one in the same spot (1.4cm), one a bit above 2mm and one 3mm in back. He decided not to have whole brain (or any yet)radiation after his brain surgery and was getting ready for lung surgery before this happened. Rad. onc. is recommending WBR, followed by gamma-knife on the larger and all 3 lesions if they remain. Wants to radiate lung as well: (4-6wks) starting during 3wk WBR treatment. We've heard different stories about which is best, gamma-knife or linac (cyber-knife, X-knife, Synergy, Novalis).

We would feel best to "knife" both the lung and brain ASAP, then do WBR if it is still recommended. Please share your experiences with us...thanks.

gdpawel

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, noted in their OncoLog, that whole brain radiation may still be the standard for "four or more" brain tumors, however, there are a variety of effective treatment modalities for people who have fewer than four tumors, and in particular for a solitary brain metastasis (Stereotatic, Gamma-Knife, Cyber-Knife, Brachyradiation and IMRT to name a few).

http://www2.mdanderson.org/depts/oncolog/articles/05/1-jan/1-05-1.html

The UCLA Metastatic Brain Tumor Program's goal is to treat metastatic disease "focally" so as to spare normal brain tissue and function. Focal treatment allows retreatment of local and new recurrences. This treatment delivers a single, large dose of radiation that is precisely targeted to the tumor and causes minimal damage to surrounding brain structures.

http://neurosurgery.ucla.edu/Programs/BrainTumor/Metastatic_Intro.html

The results of a recent study at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine reported that treating four or more brain tumors in a single radiosurgery session resulted in improved survival compared to whole brain radiation therapy alone. In the study, patients with primary malignancies that had metastasized to the brain underwent Gamma-Knife radiosurgery and the results indicated that treating four or more brain tumors with radiosurgery is safe and effective and translates into a survival benefit for patients.

http://www.upmc.edu/

mamabanana

http://www.mpri.org/