• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.260-266
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• 2013

A clear consensus has not been established regarding the best treatment for solitary bone metastasis. Here, we reviewed the medical records of patients with a controlled primary malignancy who had only solitary spine metastasis without metastasis to the extraspinal bone or viscera and underwent treatment between April 2007 and December 2012 with stereotactic body radiosurgery using CyberKnife, with a total dose of 24 Gy in three to four fractions. During that time, there were only four cases. This was effective in each case, and all the four patients had no local failure and remained alive at a median follow-up of 68 months (range, 64 to 80 months). Although our experience is limited, this study suggests that stereotactic body radiotherapy could be a feasible, safe, effective, and noninvasive alternative treatment for solitary spine metastasis in patients who are medically inoperable or unsuitable for surgery.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.267-272
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• 2013

Although significant advances in the treatment of intrahepatic lesions, it is reported that the prognosis for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who have extrahepatic metastasis remains poor. We report a patient with lung, liver, brain, bone and subcutaneous metastasis from HCC who has survived more than 7 years maintaining relatively good performance status as a result of repeated therapies. A 55-year-old male patient with HCC underwent right lobectomy of the liver and cholecystectomy in September 2006. He received wedge resection for lung metastasis twice (July 2009, January 2011) and Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery for brain metastasis (April 2011). Over the last 3 years, he has developed metastasis in subcutaneous tissues, muscle, and bone with pain. He has undergone 7 courses of radiotherapies for subcutaneous tissues, muscle, and bone metastasis and been prescribed sorafenib and he is still capable of all self-care.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.148-151
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• 2006

Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans[DFSP] is an uncommon fibrohistiocytic tumor characterized by aggressive local invasion and consequent local recurrence rather than distant metastasis. We present a case of a 51-year-old male patient with a typical cutaneous DFSP, which showed local recurrences and distant metastasis to the central nervous system[CNS] and the lung after 15 years from the initial diagnosis. CNS metastatic lesions recurred in 5 months after surgical resection of the first CNS lesion. These metastatic tumors were treated by open surgery and gamma-knife radiosurgery. Despite continuous medication of oral chemotherapeutic agent, the patient died during 1-year follow-up period.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.294-300
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• 2017

Hypothalamic hamartoma (HH) is a benign indolent lesion despite the presentation of refractory epilepsy. Behavioral disturbances and endocrine problems are additional critical symptoms that arise along with HHs. Due to its nature of generating epileptiform discharge and spreading to cortical region, various management strategies have been proposed and combined. Surgical approaches with open craniotomy or endoscopy, stereotactic approaches with radiosurgery and gamma knife surgery or radiofrequency thermos-coagulation, and laser ablation have been introduced. Topographical dimension and the surgeon's preference are key factors for treatment modalities. Endoscopic disconnection has been one of the most favorable options performed in treating HHs. Here we discuss presurgical evaluation, patient selection, surgical procedures, and complications.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.65-67
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• 2005

Intracranial chloroma may occur in leukemia, although they are rare. A 23-year-old female complained diplopia. Brain magnetic resonance MR imaging showed tumors in the both cavernous sinus, both tentorial and anterior falx. Gamma-Knife radiosurgery was performed with maximal dose; 20Gy, marginal dose; 10Gy. Peripheral blood smear revealed leukemia, and bone marrow aspiration biopsy showed acute lymphocytic leukemia. Two weeks later, MR image for the stereotactic biopsy noticed markedly decreased tumor size. Biopsy result was lymphocytic leukemia. She received conventional radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and bone marrow transplantation. Brain involvement by acute lymphocytic leukemia is very rare. Even though chloroma are sensitive to radiation therapy, prognosis is poor because of the gravity of the underlying disease and association with impending blast transformation. The authors reports a intracranial chloroma by acute lymphocytic leukemia.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.66 no.1
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• pp.12-23
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• 2023

Glossopharyngeal neuralgia (GPN) is a rare disease that must be differentiated from trigeminal neuralgia. The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive review of anatomy, pathophysiology, diagnostic criteria, and several options of treatment for GPN. Lessons learned through our experience of treating GPN are presented in detail, as well as cases of misdiagnosis and diagnostic pitfalls. Microvascular decompression (MVD) should be primarily considered for medically intractable GPN. Techniques employed in MVD for GPN are categorized and described. Especially, we underscore the advantages of the 'transposition' technique where insulating material is positioned 'off' the root entry zone (REZ), instead of 'on' it. We believe this 'off-the-REZ' technique can fundamentally prevent recurrence, if applicable. In addition, Gamma Knife radiosurgery can be an alternative option when a patient is ineligible for MVD, though it is categorized as a destructive procedure.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.303-312
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• 2017

The central goal of Gamma Knife radiosurgery(GKRS) is to maximize the conformity of the prescription isodose surface, and to minimize the radiation effect of the normal tissue surrounding the target volume. There are the various kinds of indices related with the quality of treatment plans such as conformity index, coverage, selectivity, beam-on time, gradient index(GI), and conformity/gradient index(CGI). As the best treatment plan evaluation tool, we must check by all means conformity index, GI, and CGI among them. Specially, GI and CGI related with complication of healthy normal tissue is more indispensible than conformity index. Then author calculated and statistically analysed CGI, the newly defined conformity/gradient index as well as GI being applied widely using the treatment planning system Leksell GammaPlan(LGP) and the verification method Variable Ellipsoid Modeling Technique(VEMT). In the study 10 patients with intracranial lesion treated by GKRS were included. Author computed the indices from LGP and VEMT requiring only four parameters: the prescribed isodose volume, the volume with dose > 30%, the target volume, and the volume of half the prescription isodose. All data were analyzed by paired t-test, which is statistical method used to compare two different measurement techniques. No statistical significance in GI at 10 cases was observed between LGP and VEMT. Differences in GI ranged from -0.14 to 0.01. The newly defined gradient index calculated by two methods LGP and VEMT was not statistically significant either. Author did not find out the statistical difference for the prescribed isodose volume between LGP and VEMT. CGI as the evaluation index for determining the best treatment plan is not significant statistically also. Differences in CGI ranged from -4 to 3. Similarly newly defined Conformity/Gradient index for GKRS was also estimated as the metric for the evaluation of the treatment plans through statistical analysis. Statistical analyses demonstrated that VEMT was in excellent agreement with LGP when considering GI, new gradient index, CGI, and new CGI for evaluating the best plans of GKRS. Due to the application of the fast and easy evaluation tool through LGP and VEMT author hopes CGI and newly defined CGI as well as gradient indices will be widely used.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.61 no.5
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• pp.592-599
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• 2018

Objective : Metastatic brain tumors (MBTs) often present with intracerebral hemorrhage. Although Gamma Knife surgery (GKS) is a valid treatment option for hemorrhagic MBTs, its efficacy is unclear. To achieve oncologic control and reduce radiation toxicity, we used a radiosurgical targeting technique that confines the tumor core within the hematoma when performing GKS in patients with such tumors. We reviewed our experience in this endeavor, focusing on local tumor control and treatment-associated morbidities. Methods : From 2007 to 2014, 13 patients with hemorrhagic MBTs were treated via GKS using our targeting technique. The median marginal dose prescribed was 23 Gy (range, 20-25). GKS was performed approximately 2 weeks after tumor bleeding to allow the patient's condition to stabilize. Results : The primary sites of the MBTs included the liver (n=7), lung (n=2), kidney (n=1), and stomach (n=1); in two cases, the primary tumor was a melanoma. The mean tumor volume was $4.00cm^3$ (range, 0.74-11.0). The mean overall survival duration after GKS was 12.5 months (range, 3-29), and three patients are still alive at the time of the review. The local tumor control rate was 92% (tumor disappearance 23%, tumor regression 46%, and stable disease 23%). There was one (8%) instance of local recurrence, which occurred 11 months after GKS in the solid portion of the tumor. No GKS-related complications were observed. Conclusion : Our experience shows that GKS performed in conjunction with our targeting technique safely and effectively treats hemorrhagic MBTs. The success of this technique may reflect the presence of scattered metastatic tumor cells in the hematoma that do not proliferate owing to the inadequate microenvironment of the hematoma. We suggest that GKS can be a useful treatment option for patients with hemorrhagic MBTs that are not amenable to surgery.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.116-122
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• 2009

Objective: Intracranial arteriovenous malformation (AVM) associated with aneurysm has been infrequently encountered and the treatment for this malady is challenging. We report here on our clinical experience with AVMs associated with arterial aneurysms that were managed by multimodality treatments, including clipping of the aneurysm, microsurgery, Gamma-knife radiosurgery (GKS) and Guglielmi detachable coil (GDC) embolization. Methods: We reviewed the treatment plans, radiological findings and clinical courses of 21 patients who were treated with GKS for AVM associated with aneurysm. Results: Twenty-seven aneurysms in 21 patients with AVMs were enrolled in this study. Hemorrhage was the most frequent presenting symptom (17 patients: 80.9%). Bleeding was caused by an AVM nidus in 11 cases, aneurysm rupture in 5 and an undetermined origin in 1. Five patients were treated for associated aneurysm with clipping followed by GKS for the AVM and 11 patients were treated with GDC embolization combined with GKS for an AVM. Although 11 associated aneurysms remained untreated after GKS, none of them ruptured and 4 aneurysms regressed during the follow up period. Two aneurysms increased in size despite the disappearance of the AVM nidus after GKS and then these aneurysms were treated with GDC embolization. Conclusion: If combined treatment using microsurgery, GKS and endovascular treatment can be adequately used for these patients, a better prognosis can be obtained. In particular, GKS and GDC embolization are considered to have significant roles to minimize neurologic injury.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.24-31
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• 2005

The stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) describes a method of delivering a high dose of radiation to a small tar-get volume in the brain, generally in a single fraction, while the dose delivered to the surrounding normal tissue should be minimized. To perform automatic plan of the SRS, a new method of multi-isocenter/shot linear accelerator (linac) and gamma knife (GK) radiosurgery treatment plan was developed, based on a physical lattice structure in target. The optimal radiosurgical plan had been constructed by many beam parameters in a linear accelerator or gamma knife-based radiation therapy. In this work, an isocenter/shot was modeled as a sphere, which is equal to the circular collimator/helmet hole size because the dimension of the 50% isodose level in the dose profile is similar to its size. In a computer-aided system, it accomplished first an automatic arrangement of multi-isocenter/shot considering two parameters such as positions and collimator/helmet sizes for each isocenter/shot. Simultaneously, an irregularly shaped target was approximated by cubic structures through computation of voxel units. The treatment planning method by the technique was evaluated as a dose distribution by dose volume histograms, dose conformity, and dose homogeneity to targets. For irregularly shaped targets, the new method performed optimal multi-isocenter packing, and it only took a few seconds in a computer-aided system. The targets were included in a more than 50% isodose curve. The dose conformity was ordinarily acceptable levels and the dose homogeneity was always less than 2.0, satisfying for various targets referred to Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) SRS criteria. In conclusion, this approach by physical lattice structure could be a useful radiosurgical plan without restrictions in the various tumor shapes and the different modality techniques such as linac and GK for SRS.