Mayfield Clinic offers Gamma Knife® radiosurgery at The Jewish Hospital

CINCINNATI – The Mayfield Clinic is now using Gamma Knife® to treat patients with benign, malignant, and metastatic brain tumors at The Jewish Hospital – Mercy Health. Gamma Knife® radiosurgery uses precise, high-intensity gamma rays to target lesions in a single session.

Ronald E. Warnick, MD, a Mayfield neurosurgeon and Professor of Neurosurgery and Radiation Oncology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, is providing Gamma Knife® treatment for patients at The Jewish Hospital.

Although the procedure is called radiosurgery, no incision is made, and most patients are able to go home the same day. The objective of radiosurgery is to destroy a tumor or abnormality by bombarding it with precisely targeted beams of radiation while preserving healthy tissue. Radiation works by damaging the DNA inside cells and making them unable to divide and reproduce, therefore causing them to die.

Gamma Knife® technology facilitates treatment of very small tumors deep within the brain. Patients are immobilized with a rigid head frame that is secured with small, titanium pins. The treatment plan is developed with the help of MRI images and computerized navigation tools, which enable specialists to map the precise location, shape and size of the tumor.

Mayfield clinicians and their colleagues have more than 20 years of experience in the safe delivery of complex radiation treatments. Our specialists are certified by the American Board of Radiology, and our safety protocols call for daily, weekly, monthly, and annual checks of the accuracy of our equipment. Our team pioneered frameless radiosurgery with the Novalis® Shaped Beam™ Surgery system, and we have published 15 academic articles about radiation treatment in national, peer-reviewed journals.

More than 250,000 of these patients were treated for metastatic brain tumors.

The addition of Gamma Knife® technology means that Mayfield neurosurgeons have the ability to use any one of three different radiation technologies in the treatment of patients with primary or metastatic brain tumors, spinal tumors, and other neurological abnormalities. The other technologies are Novalis® Shaped Beam™ Surgery and TrueBeam™, which are housed at the Precision Radiotherapy Center in West Chester, Ohio. 

The Novalis® Shaped Beam™ Surgery system uses image guidance and precisely targeted x-ray beams to safely treat tumors and other abnormalities of the brain and spine. Patients are immobilized in a fabricated mask that is custom fit to the patient's head.

TrueBeam™ enables precise, shaped-beam radiosurgery and radiotherapy of almost any tumor or abnormality. Using electron beam radiotherapy, TrueBeam™ can also treat tumors that are close to the surface of the body, including skin cancers. Patients are immobilized with a custom-made mask or body mold.

> Click here for more information about radiosurgery, radiation treatment options, and radiotherapy.

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The Mayfield Clinic is recognized as one of the nation's leading physician organizations for clinical care, education, and research of the spine and brain. Supported by 21 neurosurgeons, five neurointensivists, an interventional radiologist, and a pain specialist, the Clinic treats 25,000 patients from 35 states and 13 countries in a typical year. Mayfield's physicians have pioneered surgical procedures and instrumentation that have revolutionized the medical art of neurosurgery for brain tumors and neurovascular diseases and disorders.