In essence, stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is surgery without surgery. It involves delivering extremely precise, highly focused radiation to a brain or spinal lesion, while sparing the normal surrounding tissue. The development of a precision navigation system at Mount Sinai has resulted in substantial reductions of wound and neurosurgical morbidity, length of surgery and hospital costs, and enhancement of patient quality of life.

Stereotactic (from New Latin: Stereo-dealing with three dimensions; Greek: tassien-to arrange) is a term that describes a procedure done in precise and defined three-dimensional space using a computer system. Computer-assisted neurosurgery is based on the use of computers to perform minimally invasive neurosurgery. At Mount Sinai we helped pioneer a computer system based on light emitting diodes that allows us to have a real-time representation of the surgical instruments used during surgery over the patient's own radiographic studies.

Mount Sinai offers the most advanced stereotactic radiosurgery technology available—the Novalis Shaped Beam Surgery System—for treating patients with tumors and lesions of the brain, head and neck, spine and other body organs.

This state-of-the-art image-guided system makes it possible to pinpoint and target tumors with sub-millimeter accuracy—a precision achieved by combining three-dimensional images, x-ray-based localization technology, and revolutionary beam-focusing technology called multi-leaf collimation.

During the minimally invasive treatment with the Novalis Shaped Beam Surgery System, the shape of the beam is continuously matched to the size and shape of the patient’s tumor or other lesion, thereby maximizing the dose precisely where it needs to be delivered, without affecting the surrounding tissue. This precision allows for the delivery of the optimal dosage of radiation and often makes it possible to complete treatment in a single session.

The Novalis System presents a number of advantages over other systems commonly used for stereotactic radiosurgery (such as the gamma knife surgery or conventional linear accelerators), including:

• The ability to monitor and adjust to small patient movements during the treatment session so the accuracy of the radiation beam is maintained throughout;
• More precise delivery of the individual radiation dose, ensuring both greater •treatment efficiency and less risk to healthy surrounding tissue;
• A versatility that permits stereotactic radiosurgery to be expanded to treatment of lesions of the spine and of organs such as the prostate, lung, and pancreas.

Because stereotactic radiosurgery is a completely non-invasive procedure, it is usually performed on an outpatient basis. Most patients recover very quickly and can resume regular activities within days.