University of Pittsburgh logo

20,000 Patients Treated with Gamma Knife at UPMC

Members of the UPMC Center for Image-Guided Neurosurgery team gather to mark the center's 20,000th Gamma Knife patient.

Faculty and staff of the UPMC Center for Image-Guided Neurosurgery celebrate the center's milestone.

Pittsburgh, August 24, 2026 — The University of Pittsburgh Department of Neurological Surgery marked the treatment of the 20,000th patient at the UPMC Center for Image-Guided Neurosurgery, a milestone reached 39 years after the Gamma Knife was first introduced in North America in 1987 at then Presbyterian University Hospital by L. Dade Lunsford, MD.

Costas Hadjipanayis, MD, PhD, L. Dade Lunsford Professor, executive vice chair of the department and director of the center, gave brief remarks at the celebration. He thanked the faculty, nurses, physician assistants, medical physicists, radiation oncologists, technologists, schedulers, and other staff who make up the Gamma Knife team, crediting their sustained dedication to patients for the life-changing medicine practiced at the center.

Dr. Lunsford, Lars Leksell Distinguished Professor and director emeritus of the center, also addressed the group. The unit he brought to Pittsburgh was the fifth ever built, and he led the center through each succeeding generation of the technology. Sandy Rader, DNP, RN, president of UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside, joined the celebration and recognized the team's long record of service to patients.

Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery delivers a precisely targeted dose of radiation through the intact skull, with no incision, in a single-day outpatient procedure. Patients at the center have been treated for benign and malignant brain tumors, arteriovenous malformations, trigeminal neuralgia, and movement disorders. No center in the world has treated more patients with the Gamma Knife. No center in the United States has published more radiosurgery research.

The center remains a primary international training site for brain radiosurgery, hosting the Principles and Practice of Gamma Knife Radiosurgery course and training neurosurgery residents, fellows, radiation oncologists, and medical physicists from around the world. It also serves as the coordinating center for the International Radiosurgery Research Foundation.

Gamma Knife team members at the 20,000th patient celebration. Gamma Knife team members at the 20,000th patient celebration. Gamma Knife team members at the 20,000th patient celebration. Gamma Knife team members at the 20,000th patient celebration. Gamma Knife team members at the 20,000th patient celebration. Sandy Rader, DNP, RN, president of UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside, addresses the Gamma Knife team.

Scenes from the celebration at UPMC Presbyterian.