Four years ago, we wrote about Westchester Medical Center’s pioneering use of GammaTile in the treatment of brain cancer. Now GT Medical Technologies Inc. (a Tempe, Arizona-based medical device company focused on improving the lives of patients with brain tumors) has designated the medical center a GammaTile Center of Excellence. The Valhalla-based hospital was one of the earliest adopters of the technology in the United States, allowing it to become one of only five institutions nationally to use the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved technology – which combines surgical tumor removal with immediate, localized radiation therapy — on 50 or more patients.
The treatment gets its name from a small bioabsorbable collagen tile embedded with radiation seeds, which is placed directly at the site of a tumor immediately after its surgical removal. By eliminating the traditional delay between surgery and radiation therapy, GammaTile delivers targeted radiation to any remaining cancer cells when they are most vulnerable, reducing the risk of recurrence while minimizing damage to healthy brain tissue. It is is approved for use in patients with newly diagnosed malignant brain tumors and recurrent tumors, including glioblastomas, brain metastases and meningiomas.
“With GammaTile therapy, we’re able to deliver treatment to brain tumor patients with much greater precision and fewer side effects,” said Simon Hanft, M.D., FAANS, section chief of neurosurgical oncology at Westchester Medical Center. “Compared to surgery and radiation given separately, GammaTile offers the potential for faster recovery, fewer cognitive side effects, less hair loss and fewer hospital visits — enhancing both patient outcomes and the patient experience.”
Since its full market launch in the United States in March 2020, GammaTile has been adopted by more than 100 leading centers.
The Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth) is a 1,700-bed health-care system with nine hospitals on seven campuses spanning 6,200 square miles of the Hudson Valley. WMCHealth employs more than 12,000 people and has nearly 3,000 attending physicians. The network has Level I (adult and pediatric), Level II and Level III trauma centers, the region’s only acute care children’s hospital, an academic medical center, several community hospitals, dozens of specialized institutes and centers, comprehensive and primary stroke centers, skilled nursing facilities and one of the largest mental health systems in New York state.
To make an appointment or referral for a patient who may be a candidate for GammaTile treatment, call 914-493-7000 or click here.
