Gamma knife in Pleven
Despite the state-of-the-art equipment, leading specialists and reimbursement of treatment by the NHIF, paradoxically some patients are still subjected to open operations or sent abroad for treatment.
For the first time in Bulgaria, the Heart and Brain Hospital in Pleven operates a comprehensive oncology center that makes possible state-of-the-art diagnostics, high-tech treatment and long-term follow-up at the highest level, as offered only by the largest cancer centers in the United States and Western Europe.
The Comprehensive Cancer Center is the first and only member from our country of the European Cancer Institutes organization, which enables it to work in the European cancer network, to offer patients access to personalized treatment based on evidence-based medicine. It is a practice at the hospital for doctors from different specialties to work in sync and form multidisciplinary teams to seek the best treatment for the patient. Thus, within minutes, surgeons, cardiologists, gastroenterologists, pediatricians, oncologists, orthopedists, urologists, neurologists and pulmonologists can offer an adequate solution to a complex case.
The work of the centre is also enhanced by a modern molecular pathology and genetics laboratory, the country’s first cardio-oncology sector, and a state-of-the-art radiotherapy complex equipped with the country’s only Gamma Knife.
It is used for stereotactic radiosurgery to treat tumors and vascular diseases in the brain. The technology is applied for successful treatment of benign and malignant brain tumors, arteriovenous malformations in the brain, trigeminal neuralgia.
How does it work?
The Gamma Knife focuses very small beams of radiation on the tumor with extreme precision. Each such beam has a clinically insignificant effect on the healthy brain tissue through which it passes. The intersection point of all the beams is right on the tumor, where a strong dose of radiation is delivered to destroy it. There is no pain or discomfort with the procedure.
Radiosurgery is performed with ultra-high precision on the order of 0.1-0.2 millimeters (by comparison, it is 1-2 millimeters for most linear accelerator techniques), and this precision is checked and confirmed daily by medical physicists before the radiosurgery is performed and is monitored automatically, continuously and in real time while the radiation therapy session is being performed. Compared to other radiosurgery systems, the Gamma Knife enables a tenfold reduction in the radiation dose to the body, allowing brain radiosurgery to be performed even on pregnant women.
Why Gamma Knife?
Gamma Knife radiosurgery is usually performed in a single, one-day hospital stay. It is much safer both compared to standard neurosurgery, which involves incisions in the scalp, skull, brain membranes and tissue, and compared to other types of radiation therapy, which involve repeated radiation with much less precision.
So far, nearly 500 patients have been treated with stereotactic robotic radiosurgery at Heart and Brain Pleven, mainly with brain metastases (including multiple brain metastases at the same time), benign tumours, some cases of primary malignant brain tumours, vascular malformations and functional conditions (trigeminal neuralgia).
Despite the state-of-the-art equipment, leading specialists and reimbursement of treatment by the NHIF, paradoxically some patients are still subjected to open operations or sent abroad for treatment.
