Radiation Treatment of Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformations

Abstract

The careful report on radiation treatment of cerebral arteriovenous malformations in this issue of the Journal is timely because of the current high level of interest in focused radiation to treat not only cerebral arteriovenous malformations but also brain tumors.¹ This interest has led to the rapid proliferation in this country of units such as the "gamma knife" (a system involving highly collimated gamma rays from a cobalt source that converge at a focal point) and modified linear accelerators that, when used with stereotactic methods, can deliver radiation to a defined volume of tissue with a high degree of accuracy. . . .