In 1945, Lars Leksell, a Swedish neurosurgeon, started his quest to find a way to treat brain tumors without surgery. From his research, a revolutionary treatment was born. Dr. Leksell developed a stereostatic frame that allowed for the placement of an electrode or probe at precise locations within the brain.

Dr. Leksell later teamed up with Borje Larsson, a physicist at the Karolinska Hospital and Institute in Stockholm. Leksell and Larsson combined the stereotactic frame with radiation to pinpoint target masses. The new technique was called stereotactic radiosurgery, and it could treat a lesion or AVM with little effect on surrounding tissue. <Next Page>