Stereotactic Radiosurgery for Acoustic Neuromas

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Abstract
In a recent issue of the Archives, Brackmann and Kwatler1 described an alternative treatment of acoustic tumors that they termed stereotactic radiation therapy. As the authors are historically and linguistically incorrect, in this Commentary we hope to provide additional insight into the current role of stereotactic radiosurgery with the use of the gamma knife as an alternative to microsurgery for patients with acoustic neuromas. This is important, since more than 500 patients with acoustic neuromas have been treated at stereotactic radiosurgical gamma knife centers in Sweden, Argentina, England, and the United States. By the mid-1990s, six additional US neurosurgical centers will be performing gamma knife radiosurgery for a wide variety of intracranial vascular malformations and brain tumors. The role of radiosurgery in the treatment of acoustic neuromas has been analyzed extensively, and its expanding role now offers patients with acoustic neuromas a safe and effective alternative to microsurgical removal.

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