Radiosurgery for Spinal Lesions

ABSTRACT

Spinal Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) has become an important treatment modality for a broad range of spinal tumors and spinal vascular lesions. Recent clinical acceptance and awareness of the usefulness of spinal radiosurgery has escalated with the development of modern radiosurgical technology. Image-guided navigation systems incorporating non-invasive fiducial tracking and virtual simulation planning systems have made spinal radiosurgery increasingly effective and expanded the range of clinical applications for which it can be effectively used. Additional improvements such as Intensity Modulation and Micro-Multileaf Collimation that allow the accurate modulating and shaping of the radiation beam have also contributed greatly to the ability of clinicians to treat irregular and critically located lesions with greatly reduced collateral risk. Spinal Radiosurgery for spinal tumors can achieve similar clinical results to cranial stereotactic radiosurgery for brain tumors in terms of achieving local tumor control and improving quality of life and survival rates. Stereotactic radiosurgery, which has long been used for the treatment of intracranial lesions, is now recognized to be a viable option for treating spinal tumors and spinal vascular lesions.