JUL 31, 2003 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS PAGE: A3
'Gamma knife' to revolutionize brain surgery
Alexandra Paul
A revolutionary form of brain surgery, based on gamma radiation, will be unveiled for the first time in Canada in November at the Health Sciences Centre. The gamma knife, which costs $6.7 million, is now being installed at the hospital.
The device turns inoperable and risky brain surgery into a simple day procedure with no incision, no blood and no pain.
It delivers shots of intense radiation that can zap away a brain tumour in a virtual puff of vapour.
"So far, we're a national centre," said HSC neurosurgeon and University of Manitoba director of cranial nerve disorders Dr. Anthony Kaufmann, one of six doctors gearing up to deliver the procedure to the first of 30 patients on the waiting list.
The centre estimates it can treat 283 patients, including 100 from Manitoba, annually.
Gamma rays are a cutting-edge form of light surgery that allow doctors to operate by computer with far more precision than a scalpel. On their own, gamma rays are weak but by converging a total of 201 beams of gamma radiation, their combined strength can zero in on inoperable benign and malignant brain tumours and tangles of blood vessels known as aneurysms with pin-point accuracy.
"It's like taking all the energy of the sun with a magnifying glass and pointing it down (into the brain)," said Kaufmann.
It takes a team of three doctors to do the job. The surgery is done by computer and the only side effect is if there is a mistake and the beams are trained on healthy tissue -- which is impossible given the fact patients' heads are held rigidly immobile by steel halos and rays are focused in through tiny holes in a giant helmet that is pitted like a golf ball.
Patients lie on beds that are fitted into a machine that looks like a CT scanner. Only their heads are inside the machine. Gamma rays are shot through a helmet with the holes in it to their exact target.
A 10-hour surgery becomes a 20-minute procedure with the technique.
"You go home that day and you go back to work the next day with any one of these gamma knife treatments," Kaufmann said.
Most of the work is done on computer ahead of time.
'Gamma knife' to revolutionize brain surgery
Alexandra Paul
A revolutionary form of brain surgery, based on gamma radiation, will be unveiled for the first time in Canada in November at the Health Sciences Centre. The gamma knife, which costs $6.7 million, is now being installed at the hospital.
The device turns inoperable and risky brain surgery into a simple day procedure with no incision, no blood and no pain.
It delivers shots of intense radiation that can zap away a brain tumour in a virtual puff of vapour.
"So far, we're a national centre," said HSC neurosurgeon and University of Manitoba director of cranial nerve disorders Dr. Anthony Kaufmann, one of six doctors gearing up to deliver the procedure to the first of 30 patients on the waiting list.
The centre estimates it can treat 283 patients, including 100 from Manitoba, annually.
Gamma rays are a cutting-edge form of light surgery that allow doctors to operate by computer with far more precision than a scalpel. On their own, gamma rays are weak but by converging a total of 201 beams of gamma radiation, their combined strength can zero in on inoperable benign and malignant brain tumours and tangles of blood vessels known as aneurysms with pin-point accuracy.
"It's like taking all the energy of the sun with a magnifying glass and pointing it down (into the brain)," said Kaufmann.
It takes a team of three doctors to do the job. The surgery is done by computer and the only side effect is if there is a mistake and the beams are trained on healthy tissue -- which is impossible given the fact patients' heads are held rigidly immobile by steel halos and rays are focused in through tiny holes in a giant helmet that is pitted like a golf ball.
Patients lie on beds that are fitted into a machine that looks like a CT scanner. Only their heads are inside the machine. Gamma rays are shot through a helmet with the holes in it to their exact target.
A 10-hour surgery becomes a 20-minute procedure with the technique.
"You go home that day and you go back to work the next day with any one of these gamma knife treatments," Kaufmann said.
Most of the work is done on computer ahead of time.
I guess they dont need to with all the money they will be making !!!! So sad 
