Gamma Knife

Gamma Knife is a proven technology that gives doctors the option of using a highly focused form of pinpoint cobalt radiation to treat many disorders of the brain without ever making an incision, or negatively affecting healthy brain tissue. More than 300,000 patients have received Gamma Knife treatment, worldwide.

Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery requires a highly skilled, multi-specialty team to conduct the one-session treatment, including a neurosurgeon, radiation oncologist, physicist and registered nurse.

This leading-edge technology is considered the “gold standard of care” for non-invasive treatment of many brain tumors (some previously considered inoperable), vascular malformations, and neurological disorders. The Gamma Knife focuses 201 tiny beams of radiation on one computer-mapped focal point (target) in the brain and is accurate within one-half the width of a human hair. Gamma Knife is typically a one-time four-hour single session treatment. Patients do not lose their hair, and generally return to normal activities within 48 hours. Since there are no incisions or general anesthetic, patients have almost no pain or side effects.

Gamma Knife, at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, WA is the only Gamma Knife facility located between Seattle, WA and Portland, OR. It offers patients throughout the region a specially designed new facility, state-of-the-art technology, and an unparalleled multidisciplinary team of neurosurgeons, radiation oncologists, radiation physicists, and support staff, all of whom are at the very top of their professions.