Gamma Knife Radiosurgery

Patient with head frame applied. Physicians setting up treatment machine.

The Yale New Haven Gamma Knife is the only radiosurgery unit in Connecticut dedicated to the treatment of head and neck conditions. Staffed by a team of specialists with cumulatively greater than 30 years of radiosurgery experience, treatment at our center results in predictable and nationally recognized outcomes. While the majority of our patients are adults, the Yale facility has also treated many pediatric patients.

The Principle

Stereotactic radiosurgery is the delivery of a high dose of radiation in a single session to treat specifically chosen intracranial targets. At Yale, this treatment is delivered using a unit called the Gamma Knife -Originally designed by Dr Lars Leksell in Sweden, this machine contains 210 cobalt-60 sources arranged in a hemispherical array and housed in a heavily shielded unit. Using this unit, radiation is precisely focused to deliver the high dose of radiation only to the designated target while sparing the surrounding tissues. Complex shaped lesions can be treated by combining varying-sized collimators with selected beam blocking and dose weighting using very sophisticated computer planning software. This ensures that each patient's lesion(s) receive a tightly conformal "tailored" treatment plan.

Director

Dr. Veronica L.S. Chiang, Director, Gamma Knife Center

Veronica L.S. Chiang, M.D.

Contact Information

Gamma Knife Program:
Jeannie Kluytenaar
203-785-2808
email to jeannie.kluytenaar@yale.edu

The Yale New Haven Gamma Knife Center:
Linda Roos
203-688-4040
email to: linda.roos@ynhh.org