Radiosurgery

This article is about the medical procedure. For the album by American rock band New Found Glory, see Radiosurgery (album).
Radiosurgery
Intraoperative photograph showing a radiosurgery system being positioned. The patient in the photo is being treated for rectal cancer.
SpecialtyOncology / neurosurgery
MedlinePlus007577
eMedicine1423298

Radiosurgery is surgery using radiation,[1] that is, the destruction of precisely selected areas of tissue using ionizing radiation rather than excision with a blade. Like other forms of radiation therapy (also called radiotherapy), it is usually used to treat cancer. Radiosurgery was originally defined by the Swedish neurosurgeon Lars Leksell as "a single high dose fraction of radiation, stereotactically directed to an intracranial region of interest".[2]

In stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), the word "stereotactic" refers to a three-dimensional coordinate system that enables accurate correlation of a virtual target seen in the patient's diagnostic images with the actual target position in the patient. Stereotactic radiosurgery may also be called stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) or stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) when used outside the central nervous system (CNS).[3]

  1. ^ Elsevier, Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, Elsevier.
  2. ^ Leksell L (December 1951). "The stereotaxic method and radiosurgery of the brain". Acta Chirurgica Scandinavica. 102 (4): 316–319. PMID 14914373.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference SBRT was invoked but never defined (see the help page).