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International Directory of Radiosurgeons

GK world-wide | Cyberknife world-wide | Radiosurgeons Internationally | FSR in USA | GK in USA

This is a partial listing.  To add information about any other location, please write to us.

GK sites world-wide

GK machine manufacturer Elekta maintains lists of all the GK sites world-wide, with telephone numbers (but no addresses).  From their homepage (http://www.elekta.com), please select Patient Info, then Treatment Centers.

IRSA also has a directory of many GK sites world-wide, with addresses.   It can be found at http://www.irsa.org/tindex.html (click on the left to choose a location outside of the USA).

Cyberknife sites world-wide

CYBERKNIFE is available in USA as well as in Europe (there is one in Italy). Try the web site http://www.accuray.com  for the list of site locations world-wide. Here is out write-up about it.

Radiosurgeons Internationally

AUSTRALIA (FSR)

The most experienced AN radiosurgeon in Australia is Dr. Robert Smee, at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney. The treatment consists of 15 fractions with a total dose of 40 Gray. This is a slightly smaller dose of radiation than previously, but they are still claiming a 96% kill rate on the neuromas, with less than 2% facial nerve damage, less than 2% trigeminal nerve damage and 1% of other possible damage. The machine used is a Siemens, fitted with a Radionics micro multi leaf collimator and set up to use IMRT. See  http://www.radionics.com/company/pr/021501_imrt.shtml. They treat patients with large tumors (over 3 cm) as well.

There is also FSR at a private hospital in Brisbane. They are relatively new, and have treated very few patients, mainly because few patents know about alternatives to surgery. The ones treated have been a success.

Sir Charles Gardener Hospital in Western Australia also performs FSR; the oncologist is Dr. Chris Harper.

Also, there are two sites in Melbourne offering FSR:

• Dr. Michael Dally at the Alfred Hospital, Commercial Road, Melbourne (15 fractions).We believe they have been doing FSR for 4 years.

• Dr. Gail Ryan at the Peter Macallum Cancer Institute in Melbourn (5, 18, & 30 fractions).

CANADA (FSR)

• (4/99) FSR is available in Vancouver at the BC Cancer agency, 25 treatments at 200 rads each, for a total of 5000.  This facility is very new: as of May 1998, the procedure has only been performed on 6 patients.  Currently, they only treat BC residents, due to limited capacity and a back log. Contact information is:

David Noble BSc
BLS Cancer Information Centre Leader
600 W 10th Ave
Vancouver BC Canada V5Z 4E6

Tel: 604 877-6098 local 2690
Fax: 604 872-4596
Email: dnoble@bccancer.bc.ca

• (11/99) Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto (610 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) has started offering FSR for ANs, 25 treatments at 200 rads each.  The specialist's name is Dr. La Perriere.
• (1/99) Calgary will be offering FSR soon; the FSR clinic in Calgary is just being built now, expected to be in service early in the year 2000.

CZECH REPUBLIC (GK)

Nemoice
Roentgenova c. 2
Prague,5-Motol
Czech Republic
42 2 529 2790
42 2 5721 0866

ENGLAND (GK, FSR)

There are two facilities offering FSR: The Royal Marsden Hospital in London and Western General Hospital in Edinburgh.  London was the first to offer FSR.  Edinburgh has been treating AN patients since September 1998, using a LINAC machine and a relocatable headframe, with 6 treatments over 2 weeks.  The hospital's AN patients are commonly referred both to a neurosurgeon and a radiation oncologist, for a joint consultation - a rare occurrence elsewhere! A patient's account of FSR at Edinburgh can be found in the features section of BANA's Headline News Online.

Cromwell Hospital in London has a new Gamma Knife treatment centre, directed by Christer Lindquist, formerly of Karolinska Institute in Sweden (we are told that he has 20 years experience of GK and is one of the top men in the world in this field). The centre now has 10 consultant neurosurgeons and oncologists treating at the unit. The center's general enquiry number is +44 (0) 20 7460 5935. They are happy for prospective patients to send in their MRIs for assessment; this service is free of charge. There is no waiting list (yet). We also heard that they are very efficient, helpful and polite when contacted. They also have a new open MRI machine, which is good news for claustrophobics. Their website is www.gammaknife.co.uk and can be e-mailed on info@gammaknife.co.uk

London is also home to the London Radiosurgical Centre, opened in 1999 (just after the Cromwell). It is affiliated with St. Bartholomew's and The Royal London Hospitals; it is also the sister unit to the San Diego Gamma Knife Centre (SDGKC).   Their staff includes 5 treating Neurosurgeons, 3 Clinical oncologists and a Neuroradiologist. Dr. Nick Plowman, who has been on the staff from the beginning, is a neurosurgeon who has been working with radiosurgery (including the LINAC) for over 10 years.  Another neurosurgeon, Dr. Hamid Huneidi, currently visited the SDGKC for advanced training for GK; he is particulary interested in AN and skull based.

There is also a Gamma Knife in Sheffield at Royal Hallamshire Hospital:

Royal Hallamshire Hospital
Glossap Rd.
Sheffield, S10 23F
England
44-114-271-3572
44-114-275-4930

Below is a table of all UK practitioners offering FSR, compiled in the fall of 2000 by an AN patient, Paul Butterfield.  All of these locations have started doing it only recently; please compare the protocols carefully to see what dose they offer over how many treatments.

Medical Centre	Information
Mr John Burton Western General Hospital Edinburgh EH4 2XU	John Burton phoned me up personally, to describe their treatment, and answer any questions.  They are using LINAC (3K rads for all AN sizes) and treating 2 patients per month (50 treated since Dec 1995)
Dr Michael Brada The Royal Marsden Fulham Road London SW3 6JJ	Treated 8 AN’s to date.
Dr Michael Sokal Nottingham City Hospital Nottingham NG5	No information made available.
Dr Christopher Collis Royal Free Hospital Hampstead London NW3 2QG	Besides Gamma Knife, they offer stereotactic multi-arc radiotherapy (LINAC FSR), where the current standard protocol is 25 sessions.  They have treated AN’s  with above approach since 1994. They treat only about 5 patients a year, and in all have treated 33 patients to date. None of them have needed surgery afterwards.
Dr Nick Plowman St Bartholomew’s Hospital London	They use Gamma Knife, for irregularly shaped tumours   and X knife with more spherical tumours.

FRANCE (GK)

Centre Hospitaller
Universitaire La Timone
264 rue Saint Piere
Marsieille Cedex 5
France
33-4-91-38-60-00
33-4-91-38-50-33

GERMANY (GK)

Tages Klinik Nord
Ingolstadter Str.
Munich, D-80939
Germany
49-89-31-81-040
49-89-318-104-16

Dr. Michael Torrens, Neurosurgeon
Neurosurgery Clinic, Hygeia Hospital
15123 Marousi, Athens, Greece. 
Tel: +30 210 6867107
Fax: +30 210 6801655
E-mail: m.torrens@hygeia.gr

Here is a note to us from Dr. Michael Torrens: "I would like to inform your excellently produced website that the currently most effective treatment for (smaller) acoustic neuromas, Gamma Knife (single or fractionated), will now be available from Greece. As a neurosurgeon with 27 years experience of acoustic neuroma microsurgery I recognize that radiosurgery is better." 

HONG KONG (GK)

Canossa Hospital
1 Old Peak Rd.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong
852-2522-2332
852-2522-2663

INDIA (GK)

• New Delhi

The only Gamma Knife center in India doing dedicated Radiosurgery work. "Of all centers only me and my associate Dr. J. Misra are trained though an advance Gamma Knife surgery fellowship lasting for 1 year in Japan and USA. Personally I have experience of treating more than 900 Gamma knife patients including 500 during my training in Japan. I am one of the adviser in IRSA and I continue to get international patients from this region and US based Indian citizens."

Dr. Maheep Singh Gaur M.S., M.Ch.
Head, Gamma Knife Radiosurgery
Rancan Gamma Knife Centre, Vimhans
New Delhi, India
Tel.: +91-11-6314359, +91-9810072078
Fax: +91-11-6314379

• Mumbai

address: P.D. Hinduja National Hospital , Veer Savakar Marg, Mumbai, 400016
tel. 91-22-4451515 or 91-22-4449151

ISRAEL (LINAC, minimultileaf collimator, FSR)

Dr. Roberto Spiegelmann, Director, Stereotactic Neurosurgery and Radiosurgery Unit, The Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomer Israel 52621.  Dr. Spiegelmann has been offering radiosurgery for years, and as of January, 1999, he also offers FSR.  His email is spiegel@sheba.health.gov.il ;  his telephone numbers are:

+972 3-530-2486 hospital
+972 3-534-5070 private clinic
+972 3-530-2650 secretary
+972 3-535-4413 fax

More information about Tel HaShomer's facility can be found here.

ITALY (GK, FSR)

Ospedale Centro Traumatologico
Ortopedico
Via S Nemesco 21
Rome
Italy
39-6-514-9643
39-6-514-9642

Centro Ospedaliero Borgo Trento
Universitida di Verona
u.s.l. 25
Verona,l-371100
Italy
39-45-807-2695
39-45-91-6790

Ospedale San Raffale
Via Olgettina 60
Milan,1-20132
Italy
39-2-2643-4465
39-2-2643-4467

JAPAN (GK)

University of Tokyo
7-3-1 Hongo Bunkyo-Ku
Tokyo, 113
Japan
81-3-3815-5411
81-3-3811-8647

Nakamura Hospital
Brain Research Institute
South 1,west 14, Chuo-ku
Sapporo,060
Japan
81-11-231-8555
81-11-231-8387

Shin-Suma Hospital Gamma Knife Center
Kobe University Hospital
Isonare-Cho
4-1-8-Sumaku
Kobe 654
Japan
81-78-7350001
81-78-738-0721

NETHERLANDS

Drs. Otto Meijer and his team at the Vrije Universiteit Hospital in Amsterdam have been doing AN radiology treatments for a number of years. They offer the FSR treatment with 5 fractions, using LINAC with a dental mold for repeat positioning. If the patient does not have enough teeth, a single fraction method  is used.

NEW ZEALAND

A LINAC-based unit using X-knife software.  They offer SRS and FSR for AN (and other indications). Contact:

Dr. Shaun Costello
Stereotactic Radio-Surgery Unit
Dunedin Hospital
201 Great King Street
Dunedin, New Zealand

Tel: +6434740999
Fax: +6434747656
e-mail: shaunc@healthotago.co.nz

SINGAPORE (GK)

Dr. Prem Pillay  MBBS, FRCS(C), FACS
Consulant Neurosurgeon at Mt. Elizabeth and Gleneagles Hospitals and the Singapore Gamma Knife Center; offers both Gamma Knife and LINAC radiosurgery.  He carries out both SRT (fractionated) and radiosurgery (single session) treatments, depending on the patient. E-mail: neuro@pacific.net.sg

Singapore is a regional center for medical care and the Gamma Center is open for treatment to anybody from anywhere in the world.  The cost to visitors is $17,000 Singapore dollars, exchange rate is approx. $2.80 to the pound. The Gamma Center may be partially financed by government and private companies.

Singapore Gamma Knife Centre
20 College Road
Singapore 169856
Tel: (65) 3265948 / 3265905
Fax: (65) 3265910
Email: sgkc@gammaknife.com.sg

SOUTH AFRICA (radiosurgery)

Dr. Roger Melvill

"please feel free to contact me directly and I shall be able to give you all the information you need. I am involved with both the proton therapy unit as well as LINAC radiosurgery. The cost of this attention in South Africa is probably a fraction of what it would cost in the USA or Sweden."

212 Constantiaberg Medi-Clinic
Burnham Road
7800 Plumstead
South Africa

Tel: +27 (21) 7974330 / 726282 (h)
Fax: +27 (21) 7622750
email:  melvillr@iafrica.com 
Web Site: http://www.neurosurgery.co.za/

Also, Dr. Vernimmen does radiosurgery on ANs, even fractionated, at the NAC = National Acceleration Center in Faure near Stellenbosch.

SWEDEN (GK)

The URL of the neuroradiology Dept. of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden is: http://www.ki.se/cns/Neurortg/nrtg.html The Karolinska institute is where Dr. Leskell and his team developed the first Gamma Knife machine. GK has been around a long time over there! You'd be amazed what they treat with it... Oh don't worry - most of the site is in English.....

SWITZERLAND (GK)

Centre Gamma Knife Zurich
Clinique Im Park
Seestrasse 220
8027 Zürich
Suisse
Téléphone: +41-1-209 21 44
Fax: +41-1-201 51 66
e-mail: gkzimpark@access.ch

FSR in UNITED STATES

• Emory U. Hospital, Atlanta, GA
  In the spring of 2000, Dr. Ian Crocker (radiation oncologist) started offering FSR, using a LINAC System with IMRT (micro-multileaf collimator, a.k.a. Peacock). The dosage is 54 gray total: 1.8 gray per day over 30 fractions/days.  The treatment is supposedly accurate to 0.3 mm. Until now, Emory used to do single-shot stereotactic radiation.

• Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD
  This program, founded by Dr. Jeff Williams, is 10 years old. There are 5 days of treatment, 500 rads each, for a total of 2500 rads, using a custom-made facial mask   For those who have larger AN's, there are 10 days of treatment, at 300 rads each. Since Dr. Williams' sudden death in the summer of 2002, the practice continues under care of Dr. Lawrence Kleinberg, Dr. Rigamonti, Dr. Olivi, and Dr. Wharam.  Here is an announcement about it from the JHU.

Radiation Oncology
Johns Hopkins
401 North Broadway, Suite 1440
Baltimore, MD 21231-2410

Phone: 410-614-2597
Fax: 410-502-1419
URL: http://www.med.jhu.edu/radiosurgery

• Boston, MA
  1. Dr. Jay Loeffler at MGH offers single-session proton beam (using implanted pellets for positioning) or fractionated LINAC (30 sessions over six weeks, using a custom-made mouthpiece). 
  2. Dr. Naren R. Ramakrishna of Brigham & Women's Hospital does FSR using a Brainlab LINAC. His phone is 617-732-6310. Dr Ramakrishna trained with Jeffrey Williams at Johns Hopkins for several years. Dr. Peter Black, head of Neuorsurgery at Brigham & Women's, does traditional surgery on ANs. He will provide a referral for FSR to Dr. Ramakrishna and will follow-up on MRI results after FSR.

  3. New England Medical Ctr. offers Peacock treatments, 30 sessions, using a custom-made facial mask.

• Honololu, Hawaii.
  Drs. Pi-Ju and Christiana Liu, Radiation Oncologists at Queen's Medical Center, offer FSR with 25 treatments over 5 weeks.

• Columbia Spring Branch Medical Ctr., Houston, TX.
  Dr. Robert A. Behar, Medical Director of the Radiation Oncology Unit.  Dr. Behar trained at Stanford by Dr. Adler and follows the same protocol.

Dr. Robert A. Behar,
Spring Branch Regional Cancer Center
8888 Long Point
Houston, Texas 77055

• Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX.
  Dr. Shaio Woo, a radio-oncologist, Peacock treatments. Started offering these treatments in winter '96-'97.  Dr. Woo offers a choice in the number of treatments, either five days with higher levels of radiation or twenty five with lower doses.  He prefers the longer series; he feels that the lighter doses over a longer period give the fewest side effects.  We have been told that is hearing outcomes are excellent -- he's only had 2 patients  with decreased/damaged hearing after FSR.

• University of Texas Health Science, San Antonio, TX
  In cooperation with the Cancer Research and Therapy Center, they have been performing FSR for ANs since early 1999, in 30 fractions of 1.8 Gy to a total dose of 54 Gy, using the advanced Peacock IMRT system (made by Nomos Corp, Sewickley, PA). Their faculty has patented several technical modifications to the commercially available IMRT system allowing for increased accuracy of treatment delivery. A total of eight AN patients have been treated as of January 2002; all of these patients have their hearing preserved, and tumors show response in terms of reduced contrast on MRIs and some shrinking. In July 2000 Dr. Martin Fuss joined the Dept. of Radiation Oncology; he advocates the use of FSR for AN and NF2 patients.

Contact address:
Dr. Martin Fuss, M.D.
Assistant Professor, UTHSCSA/Dept. of Radiation Oncology
7703 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, TX 78229
phone: 210-616-5648, fax: 210-949-5085

• Loma Linda, CA   http://www.llu.edu/llumc/llumcwel.htm
  The Proton Treatment Center at Loma Linda University Medical Center is the first hospital-based proton beam in the world, 30 sessions over six weeks.  For those who are considering Proton, they have a free video.  To obtain it, please call their number, 1-800-PROTONS.  Their address is P.O. Box 2000, Loma Linda, California 92354
  We have learned from some patients that Loma Linda is now only treating ANs that are no more than 2 cm, due to some bad outcomes they had with patients whose ANs were over 2cm.

• Minneapolis.
  Dr. Hall (neurosurgeon) and Dr. Cho (radiation oncology) at University Hospital.

• Philadelphia, PA
  Dr. David Andrews, Assoc. Professor of Neurosurgery at Thomas Jefferson University, and Director of Stereotactic Radiosurgery at Jefferson Hospital for the Neurosciences. In 1994, Dr. Andrews established the first world installation of a head dedicated LINAC. Patients describe him as "a very sincere man honestly working to benefit his patients".  FSR is performed in 5 consecutive weeks of low dose radiation (Monday-Friday, 2 Gy per session) with a dedicated LINAC. Gamma Knife is also available. He claims to be "among the most experienced clinicians in the world in the treatment of ANs with fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy."  They have now treated 800 patients with FSR (not all of them ANs). 

Thomas Jefferson Department of Neurosurgery
909 Walnut Street Third Floor
Philadelphia PA 19107
Phone number (for new patient information and appointments): 215-955-7000
URL of the Jefferson Neurosurgery Department: http://jeffline.tju.edu/neuros

• Pittsburgh (but not by University of Pittsburgh Hospital)
  Peacock treatments, a six-week program.

• Providence, Rhode Island
  Dr. Georg Noren, Director of the New England GK Center, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI. (404-444-4257).
  Though known for his GK experience (see below), Dr. Noren has started to offer a new fractionated GK treatment to selected patients; by 4/00, he has treated 6 patients with FGK.  The first one was Victoria Meyerink, whose story is here.

• Sayre, PA
  Dr. Mei-Chang Cheng, with the Robert Packer Hospital, Guthrie Clinic, in Sayre PA. 717-882-4048, 30 sessions over six weeks, Peacock treatments.

• Seattle, WA
  Dr. Stelzer (radiation oncology) at U.Washington installed an FSR machine in September'98.   Also, Dr Sandra S. Vermuelen (radiation oncology) at the Swedish Medical Center/First Hill Tumor Institute, is knowledgeable on FSR for ANs.

• Stanford, CA
  Dr. Adler.  2100 rads in 3 sessions over 2 days (app. 12 hrs apart) in an inpatient procedure, using a fixed head frame. Alternatively, they now offer FSR with CyberKnife, 21 gray in 3 sessions over 3 days. Accuray (manufacturer of the CyberKnife) claims that it can achieve sub-millimeter accuracy; this system has recently completed a rigorous evaluation by the FDA.

• Staten Island Univ. Hospital (SIUH), Staten Island, NY
  2000 rads in 4 or 5 sessions over one week using a custom-made mouthpiece. They take Medicare.

Dr. Gil Lederman, MD
475 Seaview Ave, Staten Island, New York10305
Phone: 800.285.4584, 718.226.8862
URL: http://www.siuh.edu/radoncology

SIUH claims to have pioneered the hypofractionation approach (using 4-5 fractions for ANs rather than 25-30 like for cancer treatments), and to have the largest experience worldwide using fractionation for acoustic neuromas. Here is an interview with Dr. Gil Lederman, exclusive for the AN Patient Archive.

As of 10/02, over 500 AN patients have been treated by FSR at SIUH.  For inquiring AN patients, they have a package of information, a free video tape, lists of patients describing their experiences.  A patient information form is available on the SIUH site, to print out and send in along with MRI's and other test results, for a free phone consultation with Dr. Lederman. Dr. Lederman also hosts "Brain Tumor Updates" at SIUH, a free informational sessions for the general public. Reported to be "absolutely fascinating".

• UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
  UCLA offers 30-session FSR treatment. They use the Novalis LINAC, one of the newest FSR machines around.

• University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
  The University of Utah Stereotactic Radiosurgery Program offers three radiosurgery choices: single fraction (about 13 Gy), hypofractionation (25 Gy in 5 fraction), and full fractionation (54 Gy in 30 fractions). Dennis C. Shrieve is the Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology and the co-Director of the Stereotactic Radiosurgery Program. Before that, he was part of the team at the Brigham and Women's hospital in Boston treating patients with FSR in the early 1990's. Dr. Shrieve's specialty is the treatment of benign brain tumors with stereotactic radiation, including ANs. His team treats approximately 100 patients per year, mostly non-AN; they would like to see more AN patients in the area become aware of  their ability treat these tumors. They use the BrainLab system to treat AN patients, tailoring treatment based on many factors --age, hearing and tumor size, and patient's location (this is the wide open West).  Contact information:

Dennis C. Shrieve, MD, PhD
Chair, Department Of Radiation Oncology
co-Director, Stereotactic Radiosurgery Program
University of Utah Health Science Center
Salt Lake City, UT 84103
801-581-8793

GK in UNITED STATES

GK machine manufacturer Elekta maintains lists of all the GK sites in the USA, with telephone numbers (but no addresses).  From their homepage (http://www.elekta.com), please select Patient Info, then Treatment Centers, then Sites in North America.  Here are some sites for which we have additional information:

• Pittsburgh (the first GK site in the US, http://www.acousticneuroma.neurosurgery.pitt.edu )
  Dr L. Dade Lunsford, Dept of Neurological Surgery, University of Pittsburgh.

Department of Neurological Surgery
UPMC Presbyterian
200 Lothrop Street/Suite B-400
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Tel: (412) 647-7931
Fax: (412) 647-0989

• Cleveland (http://www.ccf.org/cc/radonc/spec_prog/rad_surg.html)
• Rhode Island
  Dr. Georg Noren, Director of the New England GK Center, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI. (404 444-4257).
  Dr. Noren is also Assoc. Professor of Neurosurgery at Brown Univ. School of Medicine. He writes that in 22 yrs he has treated 700 ANs with GK. He wrote the GK chapter for an AN book.
• Virginia (http://hopi.neuro.virginia.edu/)
  Dr Ladislau Steiner, Dept of Neurological Surgery, Health Sciences Center, Box 212, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908 (804 924-5842)
• San Diego, CA (http://www.sdgkc.com/)
  Medical directors Dr. Kenneth Ott (neurosurgeon) and Dr. David Hodgens (radiation oncologist).  This is a "shared" Center so any neurosurgeon and/or radiation oncologist who is trained can use this facility.
• Buffalo, NY (http://hometown.aol.com//rpci100/Neurosurgery/neurosurgeryweb1.htm)
  Robert A. Fenstermaker, Co-Director, Gamma Knife Center at Roswell Park;
  Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Elm and Carlton, Buffalo, NY 14263
  E-mail: cheryl.jonas@roswellpark.org
• The Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota (http://www.mayoclinic.org/gammaknife-rst/index.html).
  For further information on Gamma Knife radiosurgery at the Mayo Clinic, call (507) 255-3199.

©

Last Edited: Tuesday, November 18, 2003