Dr. Sisti (left) & Dr. Isaacson in 1998 when The Gamma Knife Center opened

In 1998, Dr. Michael B. Sisti and Dr. Steven R. Isaacson  opened our Gamma Knife Center with nurses Nenita Magpantay-Nadera and Jeraldine Lesser.

Thirteen years later, we are proud to say, the same team is still here!

“The equipment has changed but the people have not,” says Dr. Sisti. ” Except, of course, we have a heck of a lot more experience.  We just did our 3000th Gamma Knife.”

Today they run the state-of-the-art  Gamma Knife Perfexion System, thanks to a recent multi-million-dollar upgrade.

The Gamma Knife isn’t really a knife, but a large machine that generates a highly concentrated beam of radiation that is used to specifically target a lesion in the brain.

The Gamma Knife is used to treat a multitude of problems including Brain Tumors, Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformations (AVMs), Epilepsy, and functional dsorders such as trigeminal neuralgia.

In 1998, Leksell’s Gamma Knife Treatment Statistics, showed 100,000 patients treated with the Gamma Knife, ten years later that number had increased to half a million and has kept on growing.

Though this new Gamma Knife technology can be found in other centers around the world now, few can boast the experience that our team has.

This experience has paid off too; in patient satisfaction. Earlier this year, we sent out a bunch of surveys and the results were incredible.

The Gamma Knife Team today from left to right: Jeraldine Lesser, Dr. Sisti, Dr. Isaacson and Nenita Magpantay-Nadera

On 100% of the patient surveys we received, patients said they would recommend our center to a friend who needed Gamma Knife treatment. They also consistently said our staff was pleasant, courteous, and made every effort to make them feel at ease before,during, and after treatment.

Additionally, we have received countless letters from our patients grateful for the treatment they received. Here are Some of the many positive comments received by the Gamma Knife team over the years:

The headaches are gone entirely and we thank each and every one of you from the bottom of our hearts. Everybody at the Gamma Knife Unit went out of their way to make me feel comfortable and at ease. We still cant believe the change in me.  Thank you all.

I’d like to thank you for making my Gamma Knife Treatment a pleasant and positive experience. Your professionalism and knowledge together with your warmth and humor made me feel comfortable and allayed my fears. You have effectively been able to create a comfortable, caring and cheerful atmosphere for your patients.

My parents and children can now kiss me on my face. This may not be such a significant acheivemet to others, but to me its an accomplishment I doubted could ever take place.

The new facility looks amazing and everyone was great. They made me feel very comfortable and informed me of every step during the day. They answered all of my questions, and questions my family had were answered and even followed up with me after the procedure to
make sure I was doing O.K.

I thought the care and attention was the best I have ever received. My overall experience was incredible. The 1:1 attention was by far the best.

Today, through our New Jersey Practice, we are also treating patients at Valley Hospital’s new Gamma Knife Center.

Related blogs: Check Out Our New Gamma Knife: Upgrade Complete, Valley’s New Gamma Knife is up and Running

He is also included in 11th annual publication of America’s Top Doctors for 2012, and he has been in that publication for eleven years running.

Check out his Castle Connolly profile page here.

Way to go Dr. Isaacson!

Meet Dr. Steve Issacson from Columbia Neurosurgery on Vimeo.

Learn more about this video series and see our first one here: Meet Dr. Michael Sisti on Video 

Stay tuned for our next video…

Back in June we reported that we had the Most Neurosurgery ‘Super Docs’ Of Any NY Hospital AGAIN!.  At that time the list included six of our doctors: Dr. Robert Solomon; Dr. Jeffrey Bruce; Dr. Neil Feldstein; Dr. Michael Sisti; Dr. Paul McCormick; and Dr. Donald Quest.

Now let’s make that Eight Super Doctors!

We also had The Most Neurosurgery ‘Super Docs’ In NYC in 2010.

You can find him on their website under the category of Radiation Oncology.

Way to go Dr. Isaacson!

His talk, GBM:A Story of Frustration and Hope, outlined the latest in treatment strategies including issues such as; overcoming temozolomide resistance, overcoming the blood brain barrier, targeted molecular Therapies, and inhibitors of angiogenesis.

It is especially important to get the right type of radiation for the right type of disease and it needs to be done by the right team of doctors and radiation therapy team.

There are two kinds of machines used for radiosurgery; one is the Gamma Knife, and the other is a linear accelerator and there is a BIG difference between the two.

The type of radiosurgery injury described in the Times article was done by a linear accelerator. It is a very sophisticated machine with a lot of moving parts that needs to be highly managed by electronics, computers, and treatment planning systems and should only be used by experts like our own, Dr. Steve Isaacson.

The Gamma Knife, on the other hand, is much simpler. It is one specific machine, made by one company for one purpose and can only be used in a certain way.  According to Dr. Michael Sisti from the Gamma Knife Center, “There are none of these compatibility or safety issues.  There are essentially no moving parts and it has been in use for fifty years (much longer than the linear accelerators).”

Gamma knife is also routinely used in the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia, the condition that caused severe face pain in Marci Farber.  Sisti says, “ This procedure is a slam-dunk, like penicillin, for the Gamma Knife. We have been doing this for 20 years and it’s fortunate we have not encountered this type of complication with Gamma Knife in the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia.”

For most problems we use the Gamma Knife whenever we possibly can; that is about 90% of the time.  To date we have done approximately 2,800 Gamma Knife procedures here.  There are some circumstances, however, where the Gamma Knife is just not going to do the job. For example, says Dr. Sisti, “If the patient has a very large or irregular lesion, or it involves the optic nerve, then we’ve got to go to a linear accelerator, but you have to go to a guy like Dr. Steve Isaacson and his team who are totally immersed in this stuff.”

What’s more important than the type of radiosurgery, is the experience of the team running it. We have been using linear accelerators since 1996 on hundreds of patients with state of the art equipment and experienced radiation physicists, therapists and specialized nurses.

We urge caution in reading the article in the New York Times. The incidences reported, though devastating, are indeed rare and radiation therapy has resolved more pain and saved more lives by far than it has harmed.  Let the article be a reminder to consider all your options and to choose your medical team wisely.

Related Blog: Radiation Treatment For Cancer; Don’t Throw The Baby Out With The Bath Water!

Also read the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO)’s response to the New York Times Article

He also co-authored the preface and two articles in this issue:  With Dr. Steven Isaacson from the Gamma Knife Center he wrote, Radiosurgical Management of Brain Metastases; and with resident Dr. Christopher Kellner he wrote, Surgical Management of Brain Metastases.

Also of note, Dr. Paul McCormick from the Spine Center is a consulting editor for this journal.

To learn more see Neurosurgery Clinics of North America,Volume 22, Issue 1, Pages 1-110 (January 2011). You can also read the preface of that issue written by Dr. D’Ambrosio and Dr. Ganesh Rao.

The program, entitled Current Management of Ischemic and Hemorrhagic Stroke, provided an “up-to-date appraisal of the evaluation and treatment of acute stroke, carotid disease, intracranial vascular disease, arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), and aneurysms.”

The one-day course was co-directed by Dr. E. Sander Connolly Jr. from the Cerebrovascular Center, and Dr. Joshua Z. Willey from the Department of Neurology.

According to Dr. Solomon, “The conference was a service for the medical community by the Neurological Institute to optimize patient care in the community; to update their knowledge base on the latest information about diagnosis and treatment of cerebrovascular diseases.”

The department of Neurological Surgery at Columbia puts on some form of continuing medical education at least once a year on various topics of interest to outside practitioners.

In addition to Dr. Solomon and Dr. Connolly from the Cerebrovascular Center, several other members of our department spoke at this event: from the Endovascular and Cerebrovascular Centers - Dr. Sean Lavine, Dr. Philip Meyers, and Dr. Dorothea Strozyk; and from the Gamma Knife Center - Dr. Steven Isaacson.  A list of our doctors and their presentation topics is below:

Robert Solomon, M.D.- Microsurgery for AVMs
E. Sander Connolly Jr., M.D. – Microsurgery for Aneurysms
Sean Lavine, M.D. – Endovascular Treatment of Aneurysms
Philip Meyers, M.D. – Endovascular Treatment of AVMs
Dorothea Strozyk, M.D. - Endovascular Treatment of Acute Ischemic Stroke
Steven Isaacson, M.D. - Radiosurgery for AVMs in eloquent areas

According to Dr. Solomon, “The conference was a great success.  About 150 local neurologists, nurses, and neurosurgeons got together to discuss management of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke.  As well, all forms of surgical treatment of cerebrovascular diseases were covered.”

He also said, “There was a lively group discussion during the lunch hour with many members of the audience given a chance to voice their opinions and ask for advise from the faculty panel.”

The doctors named are: Robert A. Solomon, M.D., Department Chair and part of the Cerebrovascular Center; Michael B. Sisti, M.D. from the Brain Tumor Center and Gamma Knife Center;  Paul C. McCormick, M.D., M.P.H., from the Spine Center; and  Steven R. Isaacson, M.D. from the Gamma Knife Center.

Every one of these doctors also has the designation of being one of America’s Top Doctors (ATD) for 2010 as chosen by Castle Connolly.

Congratulations Doctors!