Science Quick Picks » Health and Science

Gamma Knife Radiosurgery

Guest Blogger — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 18:26:40 +0000

This a guest post by Amanda who is a writer and blogger living in San Diego, CA. She writes on behalf of the San Diego Gamma Knife Surgery Center, and through this article, she hopes to spread the word about the benefits of Gamma Knife surgery for the treatment of brain tumors.

Brain tumors are a serious matter that affect more than 200,000 people in the U.S. every year. However, brain tumors do not discriminate against age or gender. Though brain tumors usually affect adults over 35 years of age, even children can get them. Although not all brain tumors are cancerous, benign tumors can still be life threatening which is why early detection and treatment is essential. Advances in technology have helped not only in the detection of brain tumors, but also to facilitate the creation of alternative brain tumor treatments that are non-invasive with little to no side effects. One such treatment, Gamma Knife radiosurgery, is becoming the most supported treatment for brain tumors and trigeminal neuralgia. Here is a look at how the Gamma Knife works.

Previous treatments for brain tumors often consisted of surgical resection of the tumor, or through the use of chemotherapy drugs which can have damaging side effects. However, Gamma Knife radiosurgery is a non-invasive brain surgery which allows many patients to be treated who would not have normally been able to survive an open brain surgery. Many of the common risks of brain surgery are reduced or completely eliminated, and the patient only needs one effective single session treatment. Long term studies have not shown that treating brain tumors with a gamma knife is unsafe or has any harmful side effects.

However, the Gamma Knife is not really a knife at all. Despite it’s name, the Gamma Knife is actually a non-invasive neurosurgical procedure that uses high doses of gamma radiation while leaving surrounding tissue intact. This type of stereotactic radiation, allows the beams of radiation to be focused on the tumor with extreme accuracy, thereby reducing the damage to healthy tissues. This method can be used in conjunction with surgical resection, to help improve the odds of survival for the patient.

Over 500,000 people have been treated with the Gamma Knife surgery and it is becoming the most widely used and accepting radiosurgery treatments in the world. Since it usually costs half that of open brain surgery and is often fully reimbursed by insurance, it is also considered one of the most financially cost effective treatments available as well.

The Gamma Knife is the only radiation therapy system approved by the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) for irradiating brain metastases and there have been 2,500 peer reviewed clinical papers supporting Gamma Knife Radiosurgery for the treatment of brain tumors. Additionally, there are currently about 125 Gamma Knife Centers in the US, making it more widely available throughout the country.

Some of the advantages of Gamma Knife Radiosurgery are:

The Gamma Knife tools are designed specifically for surgeries conducted on the brain.
The accuracy of the Gamma Knife prevents damage to nearby tissues in the brain.
With a success rate of about 90%, the gamma knife radiosurgery has proven to be the most effective treatment for brain tumors and trigeminal neuralgia.
Compared to other brain surgeries, Gamma Knife Radiosurgery is a more cost effective treatment.
There is little pain or discomfort and the patient is not required to use general anesthesia, reducing the risk of some medical complications.
Since the Gamma Knife tools does not make any incision, there is no chance of hemorrhage or infection.
Hospitalization is very short and usually the patient can leave the hospital within five hours to resume their normal daily activities.
The gamma knife offers treatment options to patients who were once diagnosed as untreatable without having open skull surgery.

Gamma Knife Radiosurgery is most effective for the following conditions:

Intracranial tumors such as acoustic neuromas, pituitary adenomas, pinealomas, craniopharyngiomas, meningiomas, chordomas, chondrosarcomas, metastases and glial tumors.
Vascular malformations including arteriovenous malformations.
Functional disorders such as trigeminal neuralgia and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

There are some risks associated with Gamma Knife surgery despite being seen as the safest, most effective treatment for brain tumors and AVMs. There are usually no immediate side effects of Gamma Knife surgery other than mild nausea or headache related to the application and removal of the guiding device. As with many new procedures, there is a possibility of delayed transient or persistent side effects, around 3 to 18 months after treatment, depending on the size and location of the tumor or AVM. Those side effects include problems such as numbness, weakness, imbalance, hearing loss, and worsening of vision. Nonetheless, the largest concern for patients is usually only the anxiety and nervousness leading up to the radiosurgery.

Gamma Knife Radiosurgery is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

New Fluorescent Silicon Nanoparticles

Jorge Goncalves — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:39:53 +0000

University of Leicester researchers discover new fluorescent silicon nanoparticles. Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester have developed a new synthesis method, which has led them to the discovery of fluorescent silicon nanoparticles and may ultimately help track the uptake of drugs by the body’s cells.

Dr Klaus von Haeften explained: “A key advantage of the new method is the independent control of the nanoparticles’ size and their surface properties. The method is extremely versatile and produces the fluorescent suspensions in one go. The findings may revolutionise the performance of electronic chips while satisfying the increasing demand for higher integration densities.”

The nanoparticles contain just a few hundred silicon atoms and their fluorescence were discovered after mixing them with water. This resulted in stability in fluorescence intensity over more than a three month period.

New Fluorescent Silicon Nanoparticles is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

Enviro-Health Links – 2009 H1N1 Flu

Jorge Goncalves — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:11:21 +0000

Enviro-Health Links – 2009 H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) is a huge collection of links to H1N1 Flu related materials. These links are presented in several categories like Federal and Local Response, International Resources, Guidance for Professionals, Maps, News, Twitter, Webcasts, Information from the National Library of Medicine (drugs information, consumer health information, biomedical journal literature, influenza virus sequence database), Veterinary Resources and Full text Journals and Books.

This valuable collection of links was compiled by the Specialized Information Services (SIS) of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM).

Enviro-Health Links – 2009 H1N1 Flu is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

Christine Laine Named Editor of Annals of Internal Medicine

Jorge Goncalves — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:12:25 +0000

The American College of Physicians (ACP) has named Christine Laine editor of its flagship journal, Annals of Internal Medicine. A former vice president and senior deputy editor of Annals, Christine Laine succeeds Harold C. Sox who will retire in July.

The Annals of Internal Medicine New Editor is the youngest editor in the history of Annals of Internal Medicine and brings a unique perspective to the journal. She plans to continue the tradition of excellence established by her predecessors, while striving to chart new and innovative courses that will help to make the journal invaluable to general internists and subspecialists alike.

Christine Laine, a widely respected name in the field of medical journalism, is Secretariat for the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, the Vice President of the Council of Science Editors, and a member of the Ethics Committee of the World Association of Medical Editors. She is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Internal Medicine at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia where she continues to teach and see patients.

Established in 1927 by the American College of Physicians (ACP), the Annals of Internal Medicine is the leading journal for studies in internal medicine. The purpose of the journal is to promote excellence in the clinical practice of internal medicine. Annals of Internal Medicine is one of the most widely cited peer-reviewed medical journals in the world. The journal accepts only 7 percent of the original research studies submitted for publication.

Christine Laine Named Editor of Annals of Internal Medicine is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

FluTracker: Tracking the Progress of H1N1 Swine Flu

Jorge Goncalves — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:19:01 +0000

FluTracker: Tracking the Progress of H1N1 Swine Flu. The map and the data behind it were compiled by Dr. Henry Niman, a biomedical researcher in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, using technology provided by Rhiza Labs and Google. The map was compiled using data from official sources, news reports and user-contributions.

FluTracker: Tracking the Progress of H1N1 Swine Flu is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

All H1N1 Related Articles Published in PNAS Freely Available Online

Jorge Goncalves — Mon, 04 May 2009 15:08:57 +0000

Seen on Liblicense – All H1N1 (swine flu) related articles published in PNAS are now freely available online: In light of the current alert about H1N1 (swine flu) issued by the World Health Organization and the public health emergency declared by the United States government, PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) has made related research articles free online at www.pnas.org to assist with research on this topic.

Twelve research articles published within the past 6 months are now freely available online. All PNAS articles are accessible at no charge after 6 months.

All H1N1 Related Articles Published in PNAS Freely Available Online is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

HealthMap – Global Disease Alert Map

Jorge Goncalves — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:38:07 +0000

HealthMap brings together disparate data sources to achieve a unified and comprehensive view of the current global state of infectious diseases and their effect on human and animal health. This freely available Web site integrates outbreak data of varying reliability, ranging from news sources (such as Google News) to curated personal accounts (such as ProMED) to validated official alerts (such as World Health Organization). Through an automated text processing system, the data is aggregated by disease and displayed by location for user-friendly access to the original alert. HealthMap provides a jumping-off point for real-time information on emerging infectious diseases and has particular interest for public health officials and international travelers.

Also from HealthMap: Swine flu alerts on Twitter.

HealthMap – Global Disease Alert Map is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

NIEHS: Environmental Health Science Education

Jorge Goncalves — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:59:03 +0000

The Environmental Health Science Education website provides educators, students and scientists with easy access to reliable tools, resources and classroom materials. It seeks to invest in the future of environmental health science by increasing awareness of the link between the environment and human health.

Resources for Teachers, Students and Scientists.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). The NIEHS is one of 27 research institutes and centers that comprise the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The mission of the NIEHS is to reduce the burden of human illness and disability by understanding how the environment influences the development and progression of human disease.

NIEHS: Environmental Health Science Education is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

Time on Cancer

Jorge Goncalves — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:47:54 +0000

Time: Cancer. ‘While more people die of heart disease in the U.S. than cancer, cancer is still one of the most feared diagnoses a person can receive. There are good reasons for this. Cancer’s ability to cause pain is notorious and some of the treatments used to fight the disease can themselves make you very sick. Fortunately, not all cancers fall into such extreme categories. And while no cure is in sight, a lot of progress has been made in prevention, treatment and controlling cancer pain as well as the side effects of treatment.’

Time on Cancer is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

On the Road to an Antitumor Vaccine

Jorge Goncalves — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:54:17 +0000

Polymeric Nanoparticles for Tumor Vaccines. ‘The quest for an effective antitumor vaccine has received a boost from the results of work aimed at developing a nanoparticle that delivers tumor antigens to the immune system cells that trigger antibody production. The results of this effort, led by Shinsaku Nakagawa, Ph.D., and Naoki Okada, Ph.D., of Osaka University in Japan, were published in the journal Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications.

Vaccines are complex preparations of proteins and other materials designed to produce maximal immune response to those proteins. One factor that determines a vaccine’s potency is the ability of this mixture to trigger a recognition event between the protein antigen and immune system cells known as antigen-presenting cells (APCs). Using the biocompatible polymer poly(y-glutamic acid), the investigators were able to create self-assembling nanoparticles that entrap proteins as they form. The resulting nanoparticles were relatively stable, releasing their protein content over the course of a month. The investigators also demonstrated that they could freeze-dry these nanoparticles and reconstitute them without altering the functionality of the entrapped protein, a desirable property for any vaccine vehicle designed for use outside of major medical centers.’

On the Road to an Antitumor Vaccine is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

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