Stereotactic radiosurgery - Part II: Clinical experience and future directions

Purpose/Objectives: By October 1996, nearly 40,000 patients worldwide will have been treated with radiosurgery. While benign tumors and vascular abnormalities have been the most common radiosurgery target historically, more recent radiosurgery has been used in the treatment of metastatic disease as well as primary malignant neoplasms. The goal of this refresher course is to review the clinical experience with radiosurgery and to discuss the future directions of this technology. The results of recently completed multi-institutional trials and cooperative groups studies will also be presented. The various physical and biological parameters associated with complications will be emphasized including the post-radiosurgery radiographic results. Fractionated schedules (stereotactic radiotherapy) are being more commonly employed and the early results of these techniques will be presented