Surgery sans blood

There was a time when patients suffering from brain tumors and other brain-related afflictions had no other option but to go under the knife for treatment.

After the open surgery, they then had to spend at least six weeks in the hospital for a convalescence and rehabilitation period. This meant that aside from the operation bills, they also had to shell out for their prolonged hospital stay.

All these have changed with the advent of the Leksell Gamma Knife, a non-invasive surgery procedure that requires no incisions and does not necessitate a long hospital stay.

It has been in use for more than 30 years in 26 countries, treating more than 180,000 cases worldwide.

In the Philippines, the only Leksell Gamma Knife facility can be found at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in Greenhills, San Juan.

"The Leksell Gamma Knife was invented in 1949 by Dr. Lars Leksell of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden," says Dr. Eduardo Mercado, director of the Philippine Gamma Knife Center (PGKC).

"Being a neurosurgeon himself, he understood the risks involved in opening the human skull and the difficulty of localizing and treating certain regions of the brain," he says.

Mercado explains that the brain weighs less than one percent of a person’s body weight and it is located in a confined space with little room to expand. This means that tumors and other malformations which remain untreated can often be fatal.

"Neurosurgery involves the deliberate and planned entry into the brain to correct problems that are difficult or impossible to treat with medications or other treatments. The Leksell Gamma Knife works by making use of 201 high doses of radiation to destroy deep-seated structures such as tumors in an area of the brain without the risk of bleeding or infection," Mercado says.

Because the Gamma Knife requires no incisions and in most cases requires only local anesthesia, many of the risks associated with conventional surgery are eliminated. These include infection, hemorrhage, spinal fluid leakage, adverse reaction to general anesthesia, and death.

"Unlike conventional open surgery, the Gamma Knife treatment is accomplished within a very brief time-frame. It is usually performed as an outpatient procedure with no associated convalescence. Most patients resume their normal activities after their discharge from the center," Mercado says.

The Leksell Gamma Knife is cost-effective, too. "The relatively low cost of a Gamma Knife procedure as compared to traditional brain surgery, a shorter hospitalization period, and the elimination of hidden costs combine to make this a very cost-effective treatment option," he says.

The Leksell Gamma units used by the PGKC is DOH- and FDA-approved and adhere to the safety standards of the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

For inquiries on the Gamma Knife procedure, call the PGKC at 725-9254, 723-7575, 726-0776, 727-2266 or 727-0001 to 17 locals 189 or 190, e-mail to [email protected] or log on to www.gammaknife.com.ph