As an alternative to surgical procedures, radiotherapy can also be used to treat an acoustic neuroma. Nowadays, a special form of high-precision radiation is generally used, namely stereotactic and image-guided radiotherapy.
This involves positioning the patient with millimeter precision, for example using individual mask systems (see Figure 1), which allows very small safety margins around the planned target volume. Among other things, this allows a relatively high single dose to be delivered to a small area and thus destroy it in a targeted manner, comparable to the result of an operation.
Figure 2 shows an example of the dose distribution of a high-precision irradiation of an acoustic neuroma.
High-precision irradiation
The number and dose of radiation treatments is always an individual decision and also depends on the size of the findings when treating acoustic neuroma.
In principle, the following radiation options are available:
- Normofractionated stereotaxy (e.g. 25-33 sessions, 4-5 x / week)
- Hypofractionated stereotaxy (e.g. 7-10 sessions, 2-3 x / week)
- One-time irradiation / radiosurgery (only 1 session)
All three procedures mentioned can also be offered at the MHH using a modern high-performance linear accelerator (= LINAC-based). In addition to LINAC-based treatment, other devices can also be used for hypofractionated stereotaxy or radiosurgery, such as the CyberKnife or GammaKnife (these are not available at the MHH, but appropriate treatment can be arranged with corresponding cooperation partners on request).
In principle, all methods offer comparable tumor control rates. Which method is used is always decided individually in consultation with the radiotherapist treating you.
If you are interested in a radiotherapy consultation at our center, you are welcome to make an appointment at the Clinical Department for Radiotherapy (phone 0511-532-3590). You can also find more information at https://www.mhh.de/strahlentherapie