Radiosurgery in intracranial tumors and vascular malformations.

In 1951 Leksell first coined the term "radiosurgery" indicating a new tool for the neurosurgeon by means of ionizing radiations. The technique consists of cross-firing a stereotactic target with several well-collimated "shots" of radiation. This produces well-defined lesions in the brain without opening the skull. After several significant improvements of this technique, now assisted by a computer, today it is possible to "tailormake" composite radiation fields for any single lesion. Some interesting clinical applications are Cushing's disease, acoustic tumors, pineal region tumors and arteriovenous malformations.