He Ruber International Hospital de Madrid has signed a collaboration agreement with the Swedish company Elekta in order to train and promote the stereotaxic radiosurgery unit Gamma Knife ICON. In this way, the center of the Quirónsalud Group becomes a benchmark for the Swedish company in train specialists from southern Europe, Central and South America, Turkey and North Africa.
The hospital, as they have detailed, will carry out a series of courses and seminars every year for the training and dissemination of all technology related to Gamma Knife ICON radiosurgery. The classes and public interventions will be given by speakers of recognized international prestige, as well as by members of the Neurosurgery Unit team Worksly of the Gamma Radiosurgery Unit of the Hospital Ruber Internacional that they will take a very active part in all the scientific meetings that are held.
In Europe, specifically, there are only two reference centers with the Gamma Knife radiosurgery system, the La Timone Hospital in Marseille and the Tilburg Hospital in the Netherlands, both public. Regarding this, Dr. Roberto Martínez, head of the Functional Neurosurgery Unit and the Gamma Radiosurgery Unit of the Ruber International Hospital, has stated that “after 27 years of efforts, the Elekta company considers that we are an international reference center and that we are up to the best in the world ».
What is Gamma Knife radiosurgery and what advantages does it bring?
Radiosurgery is an advanced technique of irradiation where the concepts of high dose and maximum precision in the application of it. In this way, the optimal result is sought between tumor control and the minimization of side effects by reducing the dose in healthy tissues close to the lesion. Life expectancy has been prolonged in recent decades, including that of neuro-oncological patients, so the concept of “quality of life” is now as much or more important than that of “quantity of life”.
With respect to stereotactic radiosurgery with Gamma Knife ICON, what is the What they use used at the Ruber International Hospital, it has some advantages over other traditional systems. It allows perfectly focused irradiation on various points of the brain. It is a painless surgery and non-invasive that in most cases is applied in a single session and without general anesthesia. After the operation, the patient leaves the hospital, generally the same day or the following day, which makes this procedure a very advantageous alternative for efficacy, safety and cost compared to open surgery.
Treatment with this system is very effective in benign brain tumors such as meningiomas or neurinomas, brain metastases, and brain vascular malformations. It has also been shown to be very useful in the treatment of various painful conditions, epilepsy problems, tremors and in some psychiatric conditions. Likewise, lRadiosurgery can be used in high-grade malignant tumors as a complementary treatment or as unique treatment in low-grade malignant tumors.
At treatment of brain and spinal tumorsControl of possible adverse effects is especially important, especially those of a chronic nature, that is, those that will last over time, some indefinitely. For this reason, and depending on the nature of the lesions, radiosurgery plays an essential role as it is the technique with which greater precision and accuracy are achieved.
At this time, The Technical advances have broadened the spectrum of patients who may opt for a tratamiento radioquirúrgico, but there are complex cases in which the approach, both diagnostic and therapeutic, should be carried out in the context of a multidisciplinary team. Therefore, in the Madrid center they have a process analysis team neuro-oncological which meets periodically to evaluate, discuss and program the best alternative for each patient.
7,200 Gamma Knife radiosurgery treatments since 1993
However, the relationship of Ruber International Hospital he has been active for decades with Gamma Knife radiosurgery. Specifically, they have carried out more than 7,200 treatments of various pathologies with this system this type of surgery used in internationally renowned solvent healthcare centers such as Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm o la Minnesota Mayo Clinic, among others. Hospital spaces with which, in addition, at the Ruber International Hospital there is a very fluid exchange of information through annual and / or biannual meetings and personal visits by its professionals to share the progress and methodologies of each working group.
The first treatments in 1993 were carried out at the Hospital Ruber Internacional with second generation equipment –Gamma Knife model B– which at that time was the 43rd team in the world. With the turn of the century the C model was changed and later, in the same line of improvement, the following model was introduced: Perfexion. This was also a real improvement for both medical practice –peripheral dose planning, shaping and minimization– as in practical aspects for the patient – speed and comfort.
Gamma Knife ICON, in force in the hospital center since 2017, is one of the 62 units in use in the world today, according to the Elekta records of 2018, the company with which they have just signed the training agreement for this type of stereotaxic radiosurgery.
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