The role of stereotactic radiosurgery in the treatment of gliomas

For stereotactic radiosurgery, low-grade gliomas of suitable volume were indicated. Stereotactic irradiation allows doses of 20 to 50 Gy to be applied to the tumor maximum without an intolerable adverse effect on the surrounding healthy tissue. Post-irradiation effects in the tumor tissue only appear after a certain interval of time. The possibility of applying rather high targeted radiation doses with the Leksell Gamma Knife increases the chances for improving the long-term local control over the tumor growth. Stereotactic radiosurgery is very difficult to apply to malign gliomas, and therefore this technique is combined with previous surgical removal of the tumor, or else methods of external fractionated radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or irradiation at stereotactic accelerators are primarily employed. (J.B.). 1 tab., 6 refs