Sunmed unveils gamma knife icon to treat brain cancer

KUALA LUMPUR: Sunway Medical Centre (SunMed) today unveiled the revolutionary Leksell Gamma Knife Icon, an advanced radiation machine to treat neurological disorders and brain conditions that typically require neurosurgery.
It is the latest version which also allows for staged or fractionated treatments.
Sunway Group Healthcare Services managing director, Lau Beng Long said the Gamma Knife treatment was an initiative to provide quality patient-centred, coordinated care for those needing innovative and effective treatment options for brain cancer.
"The Gamma Knife Icon allows SunMed to provide a treatment that is more reliable and one that is administered with greater accuracy.
"This treatment method is a game changer, with very little discomfort and lesser radiation dose to the surrounding healthy tissue of the patients," he said in his speech at the launch of the Leksell Gamma Knife Icon at Sunway Medical Centre in Bandar Sunway, near here, today.
Lau said as part of the vision to be one of the leading medical centres in the ASEAN region, SunMed wanted its patients to have access to leading-edge clinical practices and technologies, especially when dealing with a cancer diagnosis.
"Even patients with serious disorders can be treated with this non-invasive procedure in one day with no overnight hospital stay," he added.
SunMed consultant neurosurgeon, Dr Ravi Krishnapillai said this technology allowed doctors to precisely target areas within the brain with the aid of various imaging techniques.
"These provide a 3D view of the target and surrounding brain structures, and this latest version also allows surgeons to treat larger lesions without any significant complications from using a higher dose of radiation.
"This means that anything that could not be treated in a single dose (like a larger tumour or mass) can now be staged over a few weeks," he said.
A recipient of the Gamma Knife treatment, Jesse Teh said as a cancer patient, she was always afraid of cancer treatments and the side effects.
"This led me to seek natural treatment methods, which were not effective. Thankfully, I was introduced to Gamma Knife at SunMed and found the treatment effective, yet painless and surprisingly relaxing.
"I had undergone a mask-based treatment, which took about 30 minutes each around. I was able to go home right after the treatment. Now, I am able to resume simple daily activities which I struggled with before the treatment," she shared during the launch. — Bernama