The history of stereotactic radiosurgery

Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is now at the cutting edge of radiation therapy techniques and is used to treat a variety of intracranial and extracranial conditions. It began as an esoteric field pioneered by a group of dedicated neurosurgeons and physicists, who experimented with various stereotactic devices, imaging techniques, and radiation energy sources. These efforts culminated in the introduction of the first stereotactic radiosurgical apparatus in 1951, which spurred the continued growth and refinement of the modality. As SRS was accepted by practitioners around the world, new technological innovations in imaging, beam targeting, and dose conformity greatly improved treatment precision and patient comfort. This opened the door to extracranial treatments. More importantly, dose fractionation became common, which forced organized radiosurgery to reexamine the traditional definition of SRS. Ultimately, SRS has evolved tremendously in the past 60 years and now stands as a noninvasive, precise, cost-effective, and highly versatile therapy.​