Radiosurgery: Where we were, are, and may be in the third millennium

RADIOSURGERY WILL CELEBRATE its Golden Jubilee in the year 2001. More than 100,000 patients throughout the world have undergone radiosurgery since Lar s Leksell first described the technique in 1951. Rapid developments in neur oimaging and even robotic technology in the past decade have contributed to improved outcomes and wider applications for radiosurgery. A variety of di fferent radiosurgical techniques have been developed in the past two decade s. Numerous studies have examined the benefits and risks of radiosurgery pe rformed with various devices. The long-term results of radiosurgery are now available, and these results have established radiosurgery as an effective noninvasive treatment method for intracranial vascular malformations and m any tumors. Additional applications of radiosurgery for the treatment of ma lignant tumors and functional disorders are being assessed. Radiosurgery is an impressive combination of minimally invasive technologies administered by a multidisciplinary team of surgeons, oncologists, medical physicists, a nd engineers.