A new treatment method for brain diseases. Stereotactic radiosurgery

This paper deals with stereotactic radiosurgery, a novel medical treatment technique for brain diseases. It is the most sophisticated modality that allows the functional preservation. Recently, CT scan and MRI scan have dramatically changed the diagnostic accuracy of tumor localization in the brain. A device named stereotactic head fixation system makes it possible to localize deep-seated brain diseases with an accuracy of 1-1.5 mm. Using multiple convergent narrow beams of high-energy X-ray, a stereotactic head frame, and a three dimensional computer graphics of CT images, patients with deep-seated nidus can be treated without any complications. Normal tissues would not receive large doses but the center of the nidus is irradiated heavily because of the convergence of X-ray beams. Thus stereotactic radiosurgery is more accurate, effective, and less toxic than conventional radiotherapy and is safer and more effective than surgery for many brain diseases. Small arteriovenous malformation in the brain, which is a fetal disease, and small acoustic neurinomas, in which surgery often causes facial nerve palsy and hearing loss, are presented as good candidates for radiosurgery. For metastatic brain tumors, stereotactic radiosurgery makes such patients free from neurological symptoms, such as difficulty in walking and speaking, in a few days. (N.K.)