Hello, I have a question,
Does anyone knows how important is the doctor in Gamma Knife? or the machine do the treatment? Maybe I must looking for the best doctor who does Gamma knife?
I think a lot of it comes down to your level of comfort with the Dr. If you choose gamma knife, the Dr. is important but so is the neuro radiologist. In my case it was a team with neurosurgeon overseeing but involved several in identifying the specific location through the scans, the dose to be delivered. My main contact was the nurse for the neuro surgeon, always answered my questions and Dr. was very approachable. I know in Canada if someone is doing this, they are good. Take Care, John
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The neurosurgeon was a big part of why I picked the hosptial I went to for my gamma knife. He was highly regarded. As Dick said, when you have gamma knife you have a whole team. I met with each doctor in the team before making a final decision. But my thought was, this very highly regarded neurosurgeon wouldn’t work with a below average team. Turns out I was very impressed with all of them. The neurosurgeon is the one who will follow you after procedure. It’s my understanding during gamma knife, he works closely with the neuro radiologist to agree on the precise location and then the radiologist determines dose and length of radiation treatment. Good luck.
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Thanks for you answer. How are you now? It’s everything o. k.? Good luck you too
Unfortunately the radiation surgery takes 2-3 years to take effect. So I don’t have my angiogram until august. But otherwise doing ok (knock on wood)
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Everything it’s going to be o.k. 
I had Cyber knife back in 2005 and unfortunately for me it didn’t work. I have found out recently that I can have a round of Gamma knife because I am under the max amount of radiation I can have. Not sure what the decision is going to be on whether I try again or not.
I am very sorry about this. I will have gamma knife in a few days and I am scared. I hope everything is going to be o.k for you
Why are you scared? How can we help you?
Among the treatments for this sort of thing, the gamma knife is uncomfortable because of the targeting frame that you need to wear. But you wear it for a very short time. Your hospital visit should be a matter of a few hours and you’ll be home again.
If you go for the cyber knife, it does much the same as the gamma knife but doesn’t use the head frame (so I’d say should be more comfortable) and I think takes longer to target the radiation but again, you’ll be at hospital for the day and then home.
The treatment then works very slowly and you shouldn’t really expect anything to be different for several months.
How can we help you be comfortable about your procedure?
Very best wishes,
Richard
My prayers are with you and I truly believe everything will go well for you.
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They used a head frame when I had my cyber knife. I had it for 5 straight days and had to stay in a hotel for the 5 days, because the hospital was 2 hours away and my appointments were always early morning. My husband still has the mold they used to bolt to the table, so my head didn’t move.
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