It is an important new tool in our field of medicine. Clark is part of the gamma knife multidisciplinary team, which also includes neurosurgeon Dr. Curtis Worthington, radiation oncologists Dr. Raleigh J. Boulware and Dr. William Neglia, and medical physicist John Gibbons, Ph.D. This multidisciplinary team, along with a patient's referring physician, work together to develop and implement a treatment strategy. It does so with minimal to no discomfort and maximum safety. Because there is no incision necessary for gamma knife radiosurgery, the risk of surgical complications is reduced greatly. The procedure itself virtually is painless, and the need for general anesthesia is eliminated.
Most patients require only a local anesthetic combined with a mild sedative.
The Gamma Knife Center of The Carolinas is one of 42 facilities in the United States and the only one in the Carolinas. InterMedical Hospital of South Carolina is the first long-term hospital in the Midlands, serving patients expecting an average hospital stay of 25 days. Although InterMedical is located inside Palmetto Baptist, the hospital will accept patients from both Palmetto Baptist Columbia and Palmetto Richland as well as other hospitals in the area. These patients and their families have different needs than Palmetto Baptist's or Palmetto Richland's general population. InterMedical must be legally separate from Palmetto Health Alliance with its own management, staff and board of directors.