Pittsburgh, April 1, 2010 -- The April issue of Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine features a cover article by Peter Gerszten, MD, discussing spine radiosurgery using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) image guidance.

The article looks at a study prospectively evaluating the accuracy of the patient setup for (CBCT) image guidance in the context of orthopedic hardware at the site of disease. Findings of the study showed CBCT guidance was highly accurate despite the presence of spinal instrumentation and/or MMA at the level of the target volume. The presence of such spinal implants did not preclude safe treatment via spine radiosurgery.

Contributing authors for the paper were Edward A. Monaco, III, MD, PhD, PGY-4 resident at the Department of Neurological Surgery, and Mubina Quader, PhD, Josef Novotny Jr, PhD, Jong Oh Kim, PhD, John C. Flickinger, MD, and M. Saiful Huq, PhD, all of the Department of Radiation Oncology.