Muscat – The radiotherapy team at Sultan Qaboos Comprehensive Cancer Care and Research Center (SQCCCRC) has successfully performed the first radiosurgery in the sultanate to treat Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) using the CyberKnife S7 System.
Dr Layth Mula Hussain, consultant radiation oncologist at SQCCCRC, said, “The radiation oncology team performed the first radiosurgery to treat a patient who was suffering from Trigeminal Neuralgia, which is a chronic pain condition that affects the trigeminal or 5th cranial nerve.”
Although, the patient had taken several drugs and had previous undergone two surgeries (Radio-Frequency Ablation), the pain persisted. Dr Furqan Hashemi, senior specialist in radiation oncology, explained that the recovery rate for these cases using stereotactic radiosurgery is more than 80 per cent, and patients may begin feeling better within a day after the surgery, while others may take up to six months for recovery.
Furthermore, the patient stated that the pain was significantly reduced within an hour of the surgery, and the team will continue to monitor her condition to ensure that the treatment is effective.
Mahmoud al Fishawy, Medical Physicist said, “The radiosurgery was performed by directing a very high dose of 6000 cGy into a small area ranging from 3mm to 6mm, close to the brainstem with a distance of at least 3mm, which requires high accuracy in directing radiation beams to damage the nerve and reduce the pain.
“CyberKnife S7 surgery is commonly used for the treatment of brain tumours, especially deep brain tumours that are hard to remove during surgery, as well as treating non-cancerous conditions such as Trigeminal Neuralgia. Indeed, we have started treating a number of cases using the device since mid-January,” added Dr Iqbal al Amri, the radiation oncology medical physicist.
Jaishan Jalahran, the radiation therapist, mentioned that, in addition to the high accuracy, treatment using radiosurgery is characterised by the fact that it does not require inserting internal fixators into the skull, and usually a treatment session lasts about 30 minutes, while in previous versions of radiotherapy devices, the treatments lasted about an hour.
“We are happy to provide this advanced and safe treatment service to all patients in the Sultanate who are suffering from trigeminal neuralgia, instead of sending patients abroad to receive treatment,” Amna al Ajmi, a radiation therapist added.
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