Welcome

• Intracranial metastases
• Vestibular Schwannomas
• Meningioma
• Pituitary adenoma
• Craniopharyngioma
• Glomus tumours
• Trigeminal Neuralgia
• Other primary brain tumours on an individualised basis

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston stereotactic radiosurgery and radiotherapy service has treated patients with brain tumours since 2002. In 2013 the service bought a Gamma Knife Perfexion to provide patients across the South and South West of the UK with the best radiosurgical treatment available. Since 2013 we have had several machine upgrades and currently have the Gamma Knife Esprit.

Gamma Knife Radiosurgery is a day case radiotherapy (x-ray) treatment that uses 192 tiny beams of radiotherapy. These beams all focus on the tumour or lesion in the brain that needs treating and give a very high dose of radiotherapy in that spot, whilst giving a very low dose of radiotherapy to the surrounding brain. This means that the tumour/lesion has the highest chance of being controlled whilst the side effects are minimized compared to other types of radiotherapy. Although it is called radiosurgery, this is not surgery. Instead the invisible radiotherapy beams pass through the brain to the tumour/lesion completely painlessly - they are not felt in any way by the patient. The whole treatment occurs on one day in most cases and almost all patients can go home within one hour of completing the treatment.

Radiosurgery is a complex treatment and the team in Bristol is very experienced. The team consists of doctors (neuro-oncologists and neuro-surgeons), physicists, radiographers, nurses and two co-ordinators, and they have many years of radiosurgical experience between them.The Bristol Gamma Knife Centre can treat a large range of brain tumours and other conditions. A brain tumour is a growth of cells in the brain which can be benign (slowly growing; does not spread) or cancerous (grows faster and can spread to other areas). In addition to the conditions listed above, many other conditions can be treated with Gamma Knife - please contact us to discuss your condition if you are unsure if gamme knife would be suitable. 

If you require any information about treatment at the Bristol Gamma Knife Centre then please contact us at gammaknifebookings@uhbw.nhs.uk or on 0117 342 6717.

Resources/advice