Radiosurgery history

Within the last decades, radiosurgery, also known as stereotactic radiotherapy, has become more and more popular as a non-invasive treatment of small benign tumours, arteriovenous malformations, metastases, and also some functional neurological structures, such as the fifth cranial nerve for trigeminal neuralgia. It allows precisely delivering very high dose in a small volume under stereotactic conditions with minimal irradiation of tissue around the area. The first equipment devoted to radiosurgery was the Leksell Gamma KnifeR. It is now challenged by some linear accelerators providing radiosurgery technology, such as the CyberKnifeR, the Novalis TxR radiosurgery platform, and the True BeamR linear accelerator. (authors)