Stereotactic radiosurgery for brain tumors.

In the 50 years since Leksell developed the concepts and initial hardware for modern brain radiosurgery, the treatment has progressed to the point where it is used commonly for arteriovenous malformations, benign masses, and metastases. Radiosurgery offers patients an effective treatment of life-threatening lesions with a reasonably low risk for discomfort and injury. In the 1990s, the procedure was used widely as primary and adjuvant treatment. The difficulty of defining the boundaries of primary brain cancers makes determining treatment targets problematic. Better imaging and computing offer a bright future for the technology.