Gamma Knife of Spokane

Clinical Research Program

From the Heart

Your thoughtfulness, professionalism, caring and gentle ways took this terrified person through the procedure with success! I appreciate what you’ve done and who you are. Thank You! God Bless.

Case Studies

Single Met

The Gamma Knife of Spokane Clinical Research Program is a collaborative research approach between neurosurgeons, radiation oncologists, neuro-otologists, and medical physicists. This group places research emphasis on investigating the clinical outcomes of patients who undergo Gamma Knife Radiosurgery as a treatment for benign and malignant conditions of the brain and head and neck regions. We feel that progress in radiosurgical techniques requires a unique blend of clinical specialties to fully understand treatment challenges and options for improving patient outcomes.

This collaborative group has access to shared hospital resources, as well as to a mature clinical database of patients treated for over 1000 separate cancers or benign conditions over the last decade with Gamma Knife Radiosurgery by our treatment machine here in Spokane, WA. Dr. Alexander Mackay (co-investigator) had the foresight at the beginning of this collaboration to carefully construct and consistently modify and implement our unique database from which we are able to longitudinally study patient outcomes.

Our Clinical Investigators

We feel that progress in medicine is dependent on the combined effort of caregivers from multiple unique specialties. Our research co-investigators include:

Christopher M. Lee, MD, Radiation Oncology and Research Program Director
Alexander R. Mackay, MD, Neurological Surgery
Wayne T. Lamoreaux, MD, Radiation Oncology
John J. Demakas, MD, Neurological Surgery
Robert K. Fairbanks, MD, Radiation Oncology
Neil A. Giddings, MD, Neuro-otology
Barton S. Cooke, BA, Operations Director

Medical and Undergraduate Student Research Fellowships

The Gamma Knife of Spokane Summer Research Fellowship for medical or undergraduate students is a summer program available to qualified students with an interest in clinical research.

Past and Current Student Research Fellowships:

2009- Benjamin J. Arthurs and Ameer L. Elaimy
2010- Ameer L. Elaimy
2011- Ameer L. Elaimy, Sudheer R. Thumma and Peter W. Hanson

Publication List

Peer Reviewed Journals

Multimodality treatment of brain metastases: an institutional survival analysis of 275 patients. Elaimy AL, Mackay AR, Lamoreaux WT, Fairbanks RK, Demakas JJ, Cooke BS, Peressini BJ, Holbrook JT, Lee CM. World J Surg Oncol. 2011 Jul 5;9(1):69. More Information Download PDF
Clinical outcomes of stereotactic radiosurgery in the treatment of patients with metastatic brain tumors. Elaimy AL, Mackay AR, Lamoreaux WT, Fairbanks RK, Demakas JJ, Cooke BS, Lee CM. World Neurosurg. 2011 May-Jun;75(5-6):673-83. Download PDF
A review of treatment modalities for vestibular schwannoma. Arthurs BJ, Fairbanks RK, Demakas JJ, Lamoreaux WT, Giddings NA, Mackay AR, Cooke BS, Elaimy AL, Lee CM. Neurosurg Rev. 2011 Jul;34(3):265-79. Download PDF
Gamma knife radiosurgery for movement disorders: a concise review of the literature. Elaimy AL, Arthurs BJ, Lamoreaux WT, Demakas JJ, Mackay AR, Fairbanks RK, Greeley DR, Cooke BS, Lee CM. World J Surg Oncol. 2010 Jul 21;8:61. Download PDF
Gamma knife radiosurgery for vestibular schwannomas: tumor control and functional preservation in 70 patients. Arthurs BJ, Lamoreaux WT, Mackay AR, Demakas JJ, Giddings NA, Fairbanks RK, Cooke BS, Elaimy AL, Peressini B, Lee CM. Am J Clin Oncol. 2011 Jun;34(3):265-9. Download PDF
Gamma knife radiosurgery for essential tremor: a case report and review of the literature. Elaimy AL, Demakas JJ, Arthurs BJ, Cooke BS, Fairbanks RK, Lamoreaux WT, Mackay AR, Greeley DR, Lee CM. World J Surg Oncol. 2010 Mar 22;8:20. Download PDF
Gamma knife radiosurgery for vestibular schwannoma: case report and review of the literature. Arthurs BJ, Lamoreaux WT, Giddings NA, Fairbanks RK, Mackay AR, Demakas JJ, Cooke BS, Lee CM. World J Surg Oncol. 2009 Dec 18;7:100. Download PDF
Clinical outcomes of gamma knife radiosurgery in the treatment of patients with trigeminal neuralgia. Elaimy AL, Lamoreaux WT, Mackay AR, Demakas JJ, Fairbanks RK, Cooke BS, Thumma SR, Lee CM. Int J Otolaryngol. In press.
Feasibility of multiple repeat gamma knife radiosurgeries for trigeminal neuralgia: a case report and review of the literature. Jones GC, Elaimy AL, Demakas JJ, Jiang H, Lamoreaux WT, Fairbanks RK, Mackay AR, Cooke BS, Lee CM. Case Report Med. In press.
Olfactory neuroblastoma treated by endoscopic surgery followed by combined external beam radiation and gamma knife for optic nerve and chiasm sparing: a case report. Jiang HZ, Elaimy AL, Jones GC, Mackay AR, Fairbanks RK, Lamoreaux WT, Demakas JJ, Cooke BS, Lee CM. In press.
Long term survival after gamma knife radiosurgery in a case of recurrent glioblastoma multiforme: a case report and review of the literature. Thumma SR, Mackay AR, Lamoreaux WT, Fairbanks RK, Demakas JJ, Cooke BS, Elaimy AL, Lee CM. In press.

Invited Textbook Chapters

Brain metastases: clinical outcomes for stereotactic radiosurgery (method). Elaimy AL, Mackay AR, Lamoreaux WT, Fairbanks RK, Demakas JJ, Cooke BS, Arthurs BJ, Lee CM. Tumors of the Central Nervous System. Ed. M.A. Hayat. Vol. 3. Springer: New York, 2011.
More Information
Vestibular schwannoma: gamma knife radiosurgery (method). Arthurs BJ, Fairbanks RK, Demakas JJ, Lamoreaux WT, Giddings NA, Mackay AR, Cooke BS, Elaimy AL, Lee CM. Tumors of the Central Nervous System. Ed. M.A. Hayat. Springer: New York, 2011. In press.
Atypical tongue pain from trigeminal neuralgia: gamma knife as a treatment strategy. Elaimy AL, Lamoreaux WT, Mackay AR, Fairbanks RK, Demakas JJ, Cooke BS, Hanson PW, Lee CM. Tongue: Anatomy, Kinematics and Diseases. Nova: New York. In press.
More Information
Gamma knife thalamotomy for disabling tremor: an alternative to deep brain stimulation. Elaimy AL, Demakas JJ, Mackay AR, Lamoreaux WT, Fairbanks RK, Cooke BS, Lee CM. Deep Brain Stimulation: New Developments, Procedures and Applications. Nova: New York. In press.

Ongoing Clinical Research Projects

Clinical treatment outcomes for patients with trigeminal neuralgia (Tic Douloureux Facial Pain) treated with Gamma Knife radiosurgery.
Clinical treatment outcomes for patients with recurrent malignant high-grade gliomas treated with Gamma Knife radiosurgery as re-irradiation salvage therapy.
Optimizing long term survival for patients treated with Gamma Knife radiosurgery for metastatic breast cancer.
Defining optimal treatment and radiation dose/treatment technique for brainstem metastases.
Review of survival outcomes for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma and melanoma with brain metastases.
Overall survival outcomes for patients with glioblastoma: A United States Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) analysis.