The Leksell Gamma Knife is a radiosurgical tool that delivers ionizing radiation to the brain to treat various diseases. Developed by Professor Lars Leksell of Karolinska Institute in Sweden, the Gamma Knife provides patients with another option for the treatment of Tumors, Vascular Malformation, Trigeminal Neuralgia and other conditions of the brain that were once only managed with open surgery.

Swedish neurosurgeon, Lars Leksell, during the 1950 envisioned a multi-source Gamma ray emitter that would be able to focus very accurately on an intracranial target and thus replace open surgery for some conditions. In 1967, the first Gamma Knife unit was put into clinical use in Karolinska, Stockholm. Almost twenty years later, the first Gamma Knife unit was opened in the United States. Since then, a number of other sites have been opened in recognition of the benefit for patients with certain intracranial conditions when Gamma Knife radiotherapy is administered.

Leksell found that a single dose of radiation could destroy almost any deep-brain structure, without the risk of bleeding or infection. He called this technique stereotactic radiosurgery and defined it as the delivery of a single, high dose of radiation to a small and critically located target in the brain.

Philippine Gamma Knife Center Incorporated

The Gamma Knife has been in use for more than 30 years in 26 countries having treated more than 180,000 cases worldwide. In the Philippines, the only Leksell Gamma Knife facility can be found within the compound of Cardinal Santos Medical Center located at Wilson St., Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila. Since its inception in 1997, the Philippine Gamma Knife Center has successfully treated close to a thousand cases and to this day continues to provide alternative treatment to brain surgery.