Radiation therapy or radiotherapy uses high-energy rays to kill cancer cells, shrink tumors and prevent cancer cells from growing and spreading. Radiation can be given internally (brachytherapy) or externally with the external beam being the most common type of radiation treatment.
What are the advantages of radiotherapy?
Radiation therapy is most effective in treating brain metastases when it is used as a combination treatment to Gamma Knife surgery. The radiotherapy attacks cancer cells which may not have developed into tumors, while Gamma Knife surgery treats defined brain tumors.
Are there disadvantages?
Devices that deliver radiotherapy are not as accurate as the surgical preciseness of Leksell Gamma Knife, which makes them less desirable for treating targets in the brain.
And because radiotherapy is delivered in as many as 30 sessions (fractionated), it is not as convenient for patients and can cause an interruption in treating other cancer sites while contributing to total radiation accumulation.
The difference between radiotherapy and radiosurgery
- Radiosurgery is performed in one session and is preferred for the brain and spine.
- Radiotherapy requires multiple treatments because it uses smaller doses, and is the preferred solution for treating the body.
Why do some centers use radiotherapy?
Every hospital and cancer treatment center has a linear accelerator (or linac) that is used for treating cancers in the body. If you received radiation therapy for your primary cancer, it was delivered using a linac. Linacs are very effective for treating cancer within the torso and body.
However, the brain is different from the rest of the body, and many leading neurosurgeons believe that it requires a different treatment method. A single large dose of radiation delivered with pinpoint precision has been repeatedly proven by scientific studies to offer the best results.
If you search the web, you may find linac systems like CyberKnife® and Trilogy® that say they can be used for radiosurgery and claim their system is as good as Leksell Gamma Knife. But because they are linac systems, they can’t offer the same accuracy and single-treatment effectiveness of Gamma Knife surgery.
