The Gamma Knife Center at Sunrise Hospital

Imagine having brain surgery on Monday and going back to work on Wednesday, with no pain, no incisions and no scaring. Sunrise Hospital is the only facility in Nevada offering Gamma Knife radiosurgery, a quick, non-invasive alternative to traditional neurosurgery. This 20-ton machine sends radiation beams to destroy abnormal tissues. Controlled by a team of experts, Gamma Knife has been used to treat malignant and benign brain tumors, acoustic neuromas, trigeminal neuralgia, certain vascular malformations, epilepsy and Parkinson's disease.

The Gamma Knife Center at Sunrise, in operation since 2001, is the only center of its kind in Nevada - yet another indicator of Sunrise’s prominence in medical care.

More than 120,000 patients around the world have had great success with Gamma Knife radiosurgery. The success rate for metastatic tumors, meningiomas and other treatments exceeds 90 percent. Tumor growth usually reduces or stops over time, while most blood vessel abnormalities close and dissolve within several months.

Benefits of Gamma Knife Treatment:

• Non-invasive – no incision
• Typically performed in a single outpatient treatment session
• High degree of accuracy
• Track record of clinical success
• Outpatient stay greatly reducing risk of complications
• Patients resume normal activities within just a few days
• Covered by most major insurers

Non- Invasive Alternative
The Leksell Gamma Knife is a state-of-the-art radio surgical device that destroys brain tumors and vascular malformations and successfully treats trigeminal neuralgia. Typically performed in a single outpatient treatment session without general anesthesia, this proven technique offers patient a non-invasive alternative to traditional brain surgery – helping them avoid incision, scarring, and long hospital stays while minimizing surgical complications. Due to its unrivaled precision, the Gamma Knife has earned a reputation as the“Gold Standard” of stereotactic radio surgical devices.

Broad Range of Applications
The Gamma Knife has a high degree of success in treating malignant brain tumors, trigeminal neuralgia, vascular malformations, and benign tumors such as acoustic neuromas, meningiomas, and pituitary adenomas. It has been used successfully to treat lung, breast, kidney, and colon tumors and melanomas that have metastasized to the brain. Although often used as the primary treatment, the Gamma Knife can enhance the results of traditional brain surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy.

Unrivaled Precision
The Gamma Knife treats the patient with 201 individual Cobalt-60 gamma rays, targeted to converge with great precision on diseased tissue. With a .3 millimeter degree of mechanical accuracy, the device destroys its target without harming surrounding healthy tissue.

Results that Speak for Themselves
The Gamma Knife’s impressive accuracy and safety record spans four decades and hundreds of thousands of patients. Its outstanding patient outcomes have been documented in over 1,600 clinical publications. After treatment, tumor growth usually stops or reduces over time, and blood vessel abnormalities gradually occlude. In addition, in clinical studies 84% of trigeminal neuralgia patients treated with the Gamma Knife experienced pain relief.