Dr. Michael Chan Explains the Gamma Knife Procedure

Dr. Michael Chan is assistant professor of radiation oncology, as well as the co-director of the Gamma Knife program at Wake Forest Baptist Health. Our gamma knife team is one of the most experienced teams in the country. We've had a gamma knife since 1999 and are consistently one of the busiest gamma knife team in the U.S.

Our team consists of neurosurgeons, radiation oncologists, and medical physicists.
The gamma knife procedure is a one-day procedure. Patients initially meet with a neurosurgeon. The neurosurgeon applies a head frame to ensure that the patient's head stays perfectly still during the procedure. The gamma knife is extremely precise (within a single millimeter of accuracy).

The patient undergoes an MRI while wearing the frame to establish coordinates so the computer knows the exact layout of the patient's brain and masses that are to be treated. The radiation oncologist and neurosurgeon use this information to create the radiosurgical plan. This often requires collaboration with our radiologists and our medical physicists to ensure that nothing is missed and to perfect the plan. The procedure can last from 20 minutes to 2 hours. Patients feel nothing during the treatment.

Patients arrive at 6:45 am and can be finished between 10:30 am and some time in the afternoon. Patients see us for a consultation some time prior to their gamma knife procedure. During consultation, the patient is educated on the procedure and what the risks and benefits are. After the consultation, we send a letter to the referring physician with our recommendations.

For certain diseases in the brain, gamma knife can be quite successful and expose patients to much less toxicity than whole brain radiation.

To learn more about gamma knife at Wake Forest Baptist Health, visit http://www.wakehealth.edu/gamma-knife.