The role of stereotactic radiosurgery in the management of intracranial tumors.

With the availability of gamma knife units and the development of modified linear accelerators, there is new interest in radiosurgery, especially as it applies to intracranial tumors. Among its advantages are the ability to precisely localize tumor and through small beam sizes deliver steep dose gradients at the field edges. This sharp dose gradient allows for the prescribed dose of radiation to be given to a tumor while avoiding vital structures only millimeters away. Radiosurgery has produced good results in the treatment of inoperable arteriovenous malformations and can be used as the sole curative therapy for small, radiographically distinct, benign noninvasive tumors. It is also used as salvage therapy in recurrent benign or malignant tumors that have previously been irradiated.