Ascension St. Vincent’s Riverside has performed its first procedure utilizing GammaTile, an innovative treatment specifically designed for use inside the brain. It is a Surgically Targeted Radiation Therapy (STaRT) that is designed to delay tumor regrowth for patients with brain tumors while protecting healthy brain tissue.
“St. Vincent’s Riverside is on the forefront of advancements in medical care,” said Scott Kashman, president and CEO of St. Vincent's Riverside. “The addition of GammaTile will help meet the growing health needs of our community, providing brain tumor patients with an effective treatment option. This care approach extends and improves their quality of life after surgery.”
More than 200,000 patients are diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor in the United States each year. They tend to be resistant to current treatments and have a high likelihood of recurrence. GammaTile is for patients with newly diagnosed malignant brain tumors and recurrent brain tumors. The postage-stamp-sized device, which is embedded with small radiation sources, is implanted in the last five minutes of brain tumor removal surgery. The radiation immediately begins targeting tumor cells in the area where the tumor is most likely to recur. Over time and after the radiation has been delivered, the tile naturally resorbs. GammaTile Therapy is shown to improve local tumor control, which can extend a patient’s life.
“GammaTile is a game changer in surgical care for our patients with brain tumors,” said Dr. Aristotelis Filippidis, a neurosurgeon with subspecialty in neurosurgical oncology with St. Vincent's Riverside. “The highly targeted therapy at the tumor cavity after resection, the area that is needed most to delay recurrence, is delivered while patients go about their everyday lives, reducing their hardship after surgery.”
Current practice for patients with operable brain tumors is surgical removal of the tumor followed by adjuvant therapy, including radiation and chemotherapy. Traditional radiation is delivered in as many as 30 treatments extending over a period of several weeks. This causes a substantial burden of treatment for patients and their caregivers with multiple appointments, delays and transfers from rehabilitation facilities. With GammaTile, for indicated cases, patients receive treatment starting the day of their surgery and continue as they go about their daily lives. While a therapeutic dose is delivered to the area most likely to have a recurrence, healthy tissue is spared. As a result, most patients avoid losing their hair during treatment.
St. Vincent’s Riverside was named a Best Regional Hospital by the U.S. News and World Report’s Best Hospital Rankings for 2024-25. St. Vincent’s was also named a top 15 health system in the country for 2024 by Fortune and PINC AI.
For more information on neurosurgery at St. Vincent’s Riverside, go to ascension.org.
Ascension St. Vincent’s, based in Jacksonville, operates four hospitals and more than 90 other sites of care and employs more than 5,300 associates.
In fiscal year 2023, Ascension St. Vincent’s provided more than $87.7 million in community benefit and care for persons living in poverty. Ascension is a faith-based health care organization dedicated to transformation through innovation across the continuum of care.
As one of the leading nonprofit and Catholic health systems in the U.S., Ascension is committed to delivering compassionate, personalized care to all, with special attention to persons living in poverty and those most vulnerable.
