Gamma Knife

Gamma Knife is a form of stereotactic radiosurgery, a highly precise way of treating targets deep inside the head without any cut, incision or general anaesthesia. Despite its name it is not a knife and involves no surgery in the usual sense. Instead, hundreds of finely focused beams of gamma radiation are aimed from many angles so that they all meet at a single point. Each beam alone is too weak to harm the tissue it passes through, but where they converge a strong, sharply shaped dose is delivered to the target while the surrounding healthy brain is largely spared. It offers a non-invasive option for tumours and other lesions that may be difficult or risky to reach with open surgery.