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(352) 309-1071

Radiosurgery

(352) 309-1071

Radiosurgery is an outpatient treatment during which advanced computer technology is used to focus hundreds of small radiation beams on tumors inside the brain. Each tumor receives a large dose of radiation, but the normal brain tissue around the tumor is spared.

Since 1988, the radiosurgery team at UF Health has used the UF-patented radiosurgery system to treat more than 5,000 patients. The system, developed at the University of Florida by William A. Friedman, MD, and Frank J. Bova, PhD, has been put into use at hundreds of medical centers around the world, and its results have been reviewed in hundreds of scientific publications and during a multitude of presentations at national and international scientific meetings.

Radiosurgery is most commonly used for metastatic brain tumors, but is also very successful in the treatment of certain primary brain tumors.

Our Approach to Care

At UF Health, each radiosurgery patient will be evaluated during a typical doctor’s appointment at the UF Health Neurosurgery outpatient practice. If radiosurgery is determined to be the best option for care, radiosurgery will be scheduled with one of two UF Health neurosurgeons: William A. Friedman, MD, or Kelly D. Foote, MD.

On the day of the procedure, there will be a pre-conference with UF Health radiation physicist Frank J. Bova, PhD. He will gather the group of radiosurgery patients for the day and assemble them to go over the steps of the process. You will receive a CT scan, and then, be fitted with a head ring. As soon as CT scans are available to view, the doctors will review each one and develop the best plan for you. The procedures are then scheduled in order of the most simple to the most complex.

Procedures can range from minutes to hours, depending on the size and shape of the tumor. You will be asked to lay down, and then you will be fitted to the machine. Dr. Bova will work with a team of technicians and nurses to deliver the radiation precisely to the tumor location. The procedure, itself, is painless.

Varian Trilogy (also known as linear accelerator)

Clinicians trust in the power, versatility and reliability of the Trilogy system to deliver a wide range of cancer treatments each day in every corner of the world. With the capacity to shorten patient treatment times, minimize damage to healthy tissues and allow many types of patients to be treated on a single machine, Trilogy has become an established platform for advanced radiotherapy.

Call 352.273.6990 for a second opinion or for a medical evaluation.