What is Stereotactic Radiosurgery? Chapter 5 — Brain Metastases: A Documentary

This chapter describes stereotactic radiosurgery and how its used to treat brain metastases.

Watch the entire documentary from the beginning here:    • Brain Metastases: A Documentary | How...  

With advancements in imaging technology, smaller and smaller brain metastases can now be located. Once these tumors are identified, stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is used to treat them.

SRS delivers radiation very accurately directly to the tumor.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Video Transcript:

Dwight Heron, MD: Now with our modern imaging technology, where we can see really, really small tumors inside the brain, we can actually now avoid whole brain radiation all together and treat those tumors with radiosurgery.

Howard Chandler, MD: Stereotactic radiosurgery is a technique of delivering radiation very specifically to a target inside the head.

DH: The concept here is you’re destroying tumors inside the body with frankly the accuracy of the blade of a knife. You’re destroying a tumor deep inside the body, almost like cutting it out, but you’re using a non-invasive way.

David Roberge, MD: The radiosurgery devices are usually accurate to about a millimeter and about a millimeter is about how accurately we can pick out where the tumor is anyways on the MRI or CT scan, so that’s about as accurate as they need to be.

HC: It uses multiple beams of radiation that all converge on a single point. What I tell patients is this is very analogous to taking a magnifying glass and a leaf, and if you hold a leaf out into the sun, it won’t spontaneously combust and catch on fire, but if you take a lens and focus that low dose sun power down on the point, it’ll burn a hole in the leaf and so that’s in its essence what stereotactic radiosurgery machines do.

DR: The radiation is coming from all these directions and it’s being concentrated in that one spot. But around that spot there’s not a lot of radiation, so the damage is really focused on the tumor.

David Andrews, MD: Brain metastases are one of the few targets that we treat in the brain that can absolutely disappear with radiation. The tremendous advantage of radiosurgery is it does not interrupt systemic treatment, whereas somebody that’s undergoing standard whole brain radiation must suspend standard treatment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Interested in learning more? See our other chapters below that address many questions regarding brain metastases:

What are brain metastases?    • What are Brain Metastases? Chapter 1 ...  

How do brain metastases develop and what causes them?    • What Causes Brain Metastases? Chapter...  

What are the possible treatment options for brain metastases?    • Is Chemotherapy Effective for Brain M...  

What is Whole Brain Radiation Therapy (WBRT) and how is it used to treat brain metastases?    • What is Whole Brain Radiation Therapy...  

What is the Gamma Knife?    • What is the Gamma Knife? Chapter 6 — ...  

What is a linear accelerator and how does it work?    • What is a Linear Accelerator? Chapter...  

Frame-based vs. frameless radiosurgery. What’s the difference and how does it impact the patient and treatment?    • How are Patients Immobilized During R...  

How does Cyberknife technology treat brain tumors?    • What is the CyberKnife? Chapter 9 — B...  

What is a multileaf collimator and what role does it play in radiosurgery?    • What is Shaped Beam Radiosurgery? Cha...  

What if a patient has more than one brain metastases? How are they treated?    • Can Multiple Tumors Be Treated at the...  

Some radiosurgery treatments can be completed in just one visit. Why are multiple treatments (known as fractions) sometimes necessary?    • When is Radiosurgery Performed More t...  

If it can harm the patient, why is Whole Brain Radiation Therapy (WBRT) still done?    • Why is Whole Brain Radiation Therapy ...  

What does “Cancer is being treated as a chronic illness" mean? How do brain metastases patients maintain their quality of life?    • What Happens After Radiosurgery? Chap...  

Why is surgery sometimes necessary to treat brain metastases?    • When is Surgery Recommended? Chapter ...  

How do I choose the best care team for treating my brain metastases?    • How to Choose the Best Radiosurgery T...  

What is the future outlook a brain metastases diagnosis?    • What is the Future of Brain Metastase...