Gamma Knife
date: label: date made
content: ca 1968
name: label: maker
content: Elekta Instruments
notes: label: Description
content: Lars Leksell, at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, invented the "Gamma Knife" in 1968. This involved the use of a steel helmet with many small portals which allowed him to shoot many beams of low-intensity gamma rays into the head of a patient. Each beam is relatively harmless, but where they intersect, as a tumor site, the target is struck. The first instrument in the US was installed at the Presbyterian-University Hospital in Pittsburgh in 1987. This helmet was installed at the Sophiamemmet Hospital in Stockholm in 1968.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Elekta Instruments, Inc.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1997.0134.01
label: catalog number
content: 1997.0134.01
label: accession number
content: 1997.0134
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Collimator Helmet
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: tungston-alloy steel; stainless steel; paint (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 41.9 cm x 52.1 cm x 45.1 cm; 16 1/2 in x 20 1/2 in x 17 3/4 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 17 3/8 in x 17 3/4 in x 16 in; 44.1325 cm x 45.085 cm x 40.64 cm