• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.63-70
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• 2020

Stereotactic radiosurgery is one of the most sophisticated forms of modern advanced radiation therapy. Unlike conventional fractionated radiotherapy, stereotactic radiosurgery uses a high dose of radiation with steep gradient precisely delivered to target lesions. Lars Leksell presented the principle of radiosurgery in 1951. Gamma Knife^® (GK) is the first radiosurgery device used in clinics, and the first patient was treated in the winter of 1967. The first GK unit had 179 cobalt 60 sources distributed on a hemispherical surface. A patient could move only in a single direction. Treatment planning was performed manually and took more than a day. The latest model, Gamma Knife^® Icon^TM, shares the same principle but has many new dazzling characteristics. In this article, first, a brief history of radiosurgery was described. Then, the physical properties of modern radiosurgery machines and physicists' endeavors to assure the quality of radiosurgery were described. Intrinsic characteristics of modern radiosurgery devices such as small fields, steep dose distribution producing sharp penumbra, and multi-directionality of the beam were reviewed together with the techniques to assess the accuracy of these devices. The reference conditions and principles of GK dosimetry given in the most recent international standard protocol, International Atomic Energy Agency TRS 483, were shortly reviewed, and several points needing careful revisions were highlighted. Understanding the principles and physics of radiosurgery will be helpful for modern medical physicists.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2012

Objective : The incidence and prevalence of spinal metastases are increasing, and although the role of radiation therapy in the treatment of metastatic tumors of the spine has been well established, the same cannot be said about the role of stereotactic radiosurgery. Herein, the authors present a systematic review regarding the value of spinal stereotactic radiosurgery in the management of spinal metastasis. Methods : A systematic literature search for stereotactic radiosurgery of spinal metastases was undertaken. Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Education (GRADE) working group criteria was used to evaluate the qualities of study datasets. Results : Thirty-one studies met the study inclusion criteria. Twenty-three studies were of low quality, and 8 were of very low quality according to the GRADE criteria. Stereotactic radiosurgery was reported to be highly effective in reducing pain, regardless of prior treatment. The overall local control rate was approximately 90%. Additional asymptomatic lesions may be treated by stereotactic radiosurgery to avoid further irradiation of neural elements and further bone-marrow suppression. Stereotactic radiosurgery may be preferred in previously irradiated patients when considering the radiation tolerance of the spinal cord. Furthermore, residual tumors after surgery can be safely treated by stereotactic radiosurgery, which decreases the likelihood of repeat surgery and accompanying surgical morbidities. Encompassing one vertebral body above and below the involved vertebrae is unnecessary. Complications associated with stereotactic radiosurgery are generally self-limited and mild. Conclusion : In the management of spinal metastasis, stereotactic radiosurgery appears to provide high rates of tumor control, regardless of histologic diagnosis, and can be used in previously irradiated patients. However, the quality of literature available on the subject is not sufficient.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.245-251
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• 2009

Objective : The authors analyzed the effectiveness and therapeutic response of Novalis shaped beam radiosurgery for metastatic brain tumors, and the prognostic factors which influenced the outcome. Methods : We performed a retrospective analysis of 106 patients who underwent 159 treatments for 640 metastatic brain lesions between January 2000 and April 2008. The pathologies of the primary tumor were mainly lung (45.3%), breast (18.2%) and GI tract (13.2%). We classified the patients using Radiation Therapy Oncology Group Recursive Partitioning Analysis (RPA) and then analyzed the survival and prognostic factors according to the Kaplan Meier method and univariate analysis. Results : The overall median actuarial survival rate was 7.3 months from the time of first radiosurgery treatment while 1 and 2 year actuarial survival estimates were 31% and 14.4%, respectively. Median actuarial survival rates for RPA classes I, II, and III were 31.3 months, 7.5 months and 1.7 months, respectively. Patients' life spans, higher Karnofsky performance scores and age correlated closely with RPA classes. However, sex and the number of lesions were not found to be significantly associated with length of survival. Conclusion : This result suggests that Novalis radiosurgery can be a good treatment option for treatment of the patients with brain metastases.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.67-71
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• 2008

Objective : Radiosurgery may be contraindicated for lesions adjacent to the optic pathways because of the substantial risk of visual complication. Multisession radiosurgery has been tried as a compromise between single session radiosurgery and fractionated radiotherapy. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the outcomes of multisession gamma knife radiosurgery (GKRS) in 22 patients with perioptic lesions of benign pathology. Methods : In all 22 cases, the lesions were within 1 mm of the optic apparatus and were therefore not considered suitable for single session radiosurgery. Radiation was delivered in 3 to 4 fractions with a median cumulated marginal dose of 20 Gy (range, 15-20 Gy). Results : During a mean follow-up of 29 months (range, 14-44 months), tumor control was achieved in 21 patients. Visual function improved in 7 patients, remained unchanged in 14 patients, and deteriorated in 1 patient with tumor progression. No other complication was observed. Conclusion : This preliminary result supports the idea that multisession GKRS may be an effective and safe alternative for treatment in perioptic lesions that are unsuitable for single session radiosurgery.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2015

With the progress of image-guided localization, body immobilization system, and computerized delivery of intensity-modulated radiation delivery, it became possible to perform spine radiosurgery. The next question is how to translate the high technology treatment to the clinical application. Clinical trials have been performed to demonstrate the feasibility of spine radiosurgery and efficacy of the treatment in the setting of spine metastasis, leading to the randomized trials by a cooperative group. Radiosurgery has also demonstrated its efficacy to decompress the spinal cord compression in selected group of patients. The experience indicates that spine radiosurgery has a potential to change the clinical practice in the management of spine metastasis and spinal cord compression.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.420-424
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• 2016

The spinal dural arteriovenous fistula (SDAVF) is rare, presenting with progressive, insidious symptoms, and inducing spinal cord ischemia and myelopathy, resulting in severe neurological deficits. If physicians have accurate and enough information about vascular anatomy and hemodynamics, they achieve the good results though the surgery or endovascular embolization. However, when selective spinal angiography is unsuccessful due to neurological deficits, surgery and endovascular embolization might be failed because of inadequate information. We describe a patient with a history of vasospasm during spinal angiography, who was successfully treated by spinal stereotactic radiosurgery using Novalis system.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.63 no.4
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• pp.415-426
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• 2020

Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are congenital anomalies of the cerebrovascular system. AVM harbors 2.2% annual hemorrhage risk in unruptured cases and 4.5% annual hemorrhage risk of previously ruptured cases. Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) have been shown excellent treatment outcomes for patients with small- to moderated sized AVM which can be achieved in 80-90% complete obliteration rate with a 2-3 years latency period. The most important factors are associated with obliteration after SRS is the radiation dose to the AVM. In our institutional clinical practice, now 22 Gy (50% isodose line) dose of radiation has been used for treatment of cerebral AVM in single-session radiosurgery. However, dose-volume relationship can be unfavorable for large AVMs when treated in a single-session radiosurgery, resulting high complication rates for effective dose. Thus, various strategies should be considered to treat large AVM. The role of pre-SRS embolization is permanent volume reduction of the nidus and treat high-risk lesion such as AVM-related aneurysm and high-flow arteriovenous shunt. Various staging technique of radiosurgery including volume-staged radiosurgery, hypofractionated radiotherapy and dose-staged radiosurgery are possible option for large AVM. The incidence of post-radiosurgery complication is varied, the incidence rate of radiological post-radiosurgical complication has been reported 30-40% and symptomatic complication rate was reported from 8.1% to 11.8%. In the future, novel therapy which incorporate endovascular treatment using liquid embolic material and new radiosurgical technique such as gene or cytokine-targeted radio-sensitization should be needed.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.40-49
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aimed to develop a surface-guided radiosurgery system customized for a neurosurgery clinic that could be used as an auxiliary system for improving the accuracy, monitoring the movements of patients while performing hypofractionated radiosurgery, and minimizing the geometric misses. Methods: RGB-D cameras were installed in the treatment room and a monitoring system was constructed to perform a three-dimensional (3D) scan of the body surface of the patient and to express it as a point cloud. This could be used to confirm the exact position of the body of the patient and monitor their movements during radiosurgery. The image from the system was matched with the computed tomography (CT) image, and the positional accuracy was compared and analyzed in relation to the existing system to evaluate the accuracy of the setup. Results: The user interface was configured to register the patient and display the setup image to position the setup location by matching the 3D points on the body of the patient with the CT image. The error rate for the position difference was within 1-mm distance (min, -0.21 mm; max, 0.63 mm). Compared with the existing system, the differences were found to be as follows: x=0.08 mm, y=0.13 mm, and z=0.26 mm. Conclusions: We developed a surface-guided repositioning and monitoring system that can be customized and applied in a radiation surgery environment with an existing linear accelerator. It was confirmed that this system could be easily applied for accurate patient repositioning and inter-treatment motion monitoring.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.317-323
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• 2000

Objective : To evaluate the role of stereotactic LINAC radiosurgery in treatment of meningiomas, the authors retrospectively analyzed the result of radiosurgery in our institute. Method: During last ten years, twenty patients underwent stereotactic LINAC radiosurgery(LINAC SRS) for meningiomas. The mean age of the patients was 51 years(22-78 years). The most common tumor location for radiosurgery was parasagittal, sphenoid wing and tentorial area. With regards to indications of radiosurgery for meningiomas, LINAC radiosurgery was done for primary treatment in six patients, for postoperative residual tumors in eleven patients, for postoperative regrowth in three patients. Mean tumor volume was $5.14cm^3$($0.28-15.1cm^3$), mean field diameter was 2.01cm(1.2-3cm). The mean marginal dose was 20.55Gy(13-30Gy). The follow-up evaluation was done annually with radiologic findings and clinical status. The mean follow-up period was 46.8(24-120) months. Result : In the radiologic response, the tumor volume was reduced in five(25%) of twenty patients, fourteen showed arrested growth(70%), but one patient showed increased growth(5%). In the clinical response, nine patients improved clinically(45%), ten patients was stable(50%) and one patient worsened during follow-up period. With regards to correlation with radiologic and clinical response, in nineteen patients who showed radiologic response to radiosurgery(decreased and arrested growth after radiosurgery), nine patients(47.4%) improved and ten patients (52.6%) showed no change, one patient(5%) had symptomatic radiation necrosis at four years after SRS, which needed craniotomy. Conclusion : The overall control rate of meningiomas with LINAC radiosurgery was 95% in radiologic follow up and 95% clinically. The radiation complication rate was 5%. These results indicate that LINAC radiosurgery can be considered as safe and effective method for meningiomas.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.336-344
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• 2000

Objective : The treatment for prolactin secreting pituitary adenoma(prolactinoma) include pharmacology, surgery, radiation therapy or radiosurgery. The recent development of radiological imaging and microsurgery has made transsphenoidal microsurgery the treatment of choice for most prolactin secreting pituitary adenoma. Despite its low morbidity and mortality, relatively high recurrence and failure rate have been reported. Recent advances in neuroimaging provide a precise targeting in radiosurgery for treatment of prolactin secreting pituitary adenoma. In this regard, Gamma knife radiosurgery has been proposed as an alternative primary treatment modality or adjuvant therapy. Patients and Methods : Twenty three patients with prolactin secreting pituitary adenoma have been treated with Gamma knife radiosurgery in our institute from March 1992 to September 1998. We analyzed clinical, radiological and endocrinological changes in 21 patients who were followed up for an average of 35.7 months. Results : The mean age was 34.9 years and 16 patients were treated with Gamma knife radiosurgery as primary treatment and 5 patients underwent Gamma knife radiosurgery for residual tumors after microsurgery. The margin of the tumor was incorporated within the 40 to 80% and the mean marginal dose was 24.5 Gy. Clinical improvement in the last follow-up were present in 17 cases(81.0%) and 3 of 5 infertility patients became pregnant after Gamma knife radiosurgery. Tumor control rate after Gamma knife radiosurgery was 100%. Endocrinological normalization in the last follow-up were obtained in 12 cases(57.1%). In three cases, hormonal normalizations were present in early period(3-32 months) but serum hormone levels were elevated subsequently. Conclusion : We conclude that the Gamma knife radiosurgery for prolactin secreting pituitary adenoma seems to be safe and effective as adjuvant therapy after microsurgery and primary treatment modality in selective patients.