Stereotactic radiosurgery for psychiatric and pain disorders

Abstract

Since its inception, stereotactic radiosurgery has been utilized to treat functional disorders of the brain. These have included psychiatric conditions such as intractable obsessive-compulsive disorder. It has also been employed to treat medically refractory pain disorders of which trigeminal neuralgia is the most commonly treated pain condition. Radiosurgery offers a minimally invasive option for treating functional disorders while avoiding the need for costly neural stimulators or lifelong medical therapy. In treating patients with functional disorders, high radiosurgical doses are employed. As such, a thorough understanding of the target anatomy is required along with a high degree of accuracy and precision in the radiosurgical delivery. Advanced neuro-imaging will shed light on the underlying changes effectuated by radiosurgery and likely lead to refinements in the radiosurgical technique for indications of psychiatric and pain disorders.​