Permanent numbness occurs in about three or four people in 100. But all the other problems that go along with surgical procedures, like surgical complications, don't exist. Despite its name, gamma knife radiosurgery is not a knife and does not involve an incision or general anesthesia. After mapping out an image of the brain, the gamma knife isolates the target area and shoots 201 finely focused beams of radiation on their mark. Treatment can be as short as 45 minutes.
Patients feel no pain and often go home the same day.
While other types of radiosurgery do the same thing, Young's study specifically looked at the gamma knife. Radiosurgery is also used to treat other conditions, including various types of brain tumours and disorders like epilepsy and Parkinson's disease. It's the largest study of its kind, but we need to have longer follow up of these patients before we make the claim that it replaces surgery. It might be slightly premature to replace surgery with this. He says radiosurgery should be considered one option for treatment at this point.