RWJUH Unveils New Gamma Knife Treatment Center

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) announced in April that it now offers Gamma Knife Perfexion, a non-invasive tool specifically designed to treat lesions and tumors in the brain and upper spinal cord, without harming healthy surrounding tissue. RWJUH is the only facility in the Central New Jersey Region to offer Gamma Knife Perfexion, which represents the most advanced and accurate generation of this technology.

“We are extremely excited to be the first in central New Jersey to offer the newest generation of the Gamma Knife,” said David Fernandez, Vice President of the Cancer Hospital and Neuroscience Center at RWJUH. “We chose this technology because it is the gold standard tool to treat diseases of the brain, and it is being used collaboratively among our radiation oncologists and our neurosurgeons.

As Gamma Knife surgical technology has evolved over the years, it has become significantly refined with advanced engineering in radiation physics, robotic controls and computerized treatment planning for the most precise and targeted treatments available today.”

The treatment is offered at the new, state-of-the-art Gamma Knife Center at RWJUH, which was completed in early 2011. RWJUH’s Gamma Knife Center team includes a fellowship-trained radiosurgeon, neuro-focused radiation oncologists, a physicist and experienced nursing director. The Center was designed to house the latest Gamma Knife technology, with a special focus on patient convenience and comfort.

The facility is located on the hospital campus on the first floor at 10 Plum Street in New Brunswick. Free parking is provided in a parking garage attached to the facility. For more information about the Gamma Knife Center at RWJUH, please visit http://www.rwjuh.edu/gamma-knife.

As the principal teaching hospital for UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and flagship hospital for The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson is home to the region’s widest range of neurosurgical and cancer treatment options.

Gamma Knife technology is the most accepted and widely used radiosurgery treatment in the world. About half a million people have undergone Gamma Knife treatment, and it's the only radiation therapy system cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for irradiating brain metastases. Recent research published in the Journal of Neurosurgery found that Gamma Knife treatment proved less harmful to normal brain tissue surrounding brain tumors than other commonly used treatment options such as Cyberknife and Novalis (http://thejns.org/doi/abs/10.3171/2011.1.JNS101056).

Gamma Knife Perfexion can be used to treat a wide range of brain diseases and spinal conditions including:

• Primary and metastatic brain tumors
• Acoustic neuromas
• Meningiomas
• Pituitary adenomas
• Arteriovenous malformations (AVM)
• Functional and pain disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor and trigeminal neuralgia.

“Because Gamma Knife surgery is non-invasive, the procedure is done on an outpatient basis and offers many benefits over traditional surgery such as fewer side effects, no incisions, fewer potential complications, shorter treatment times and greater convenience for our patients,” explains Shabbar Danish, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Neurosurgery at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Director of The Gamma Knife Treatment Center and Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery at RWJUH.