When Shawna had an aneurysm in her brain RWJ’s Gamma Knife was the perfect solution Shawna Scheidt was a typical college student, pursuing a degree in psychology. But two years ago she lost consciousness due to a near fatal AVM – a tangle of blood vessels called an arteriovenous malformation that leaked blood into her brain. Rushed to the hospital, Shawna had emergency surgery to stop the hemorrhage and limit the damage to her brain. When she awakened, she began a challenging recovery to restore her ability to walk and talk again. She was introduced to Dr. Shabbar F. Danish, Director of the Gamma Knife Treatment Center at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, and Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Suspicious that a portion of the AVM was still present, Dr. Danish ordered a cerebral angiogram, and with the results, the neurosurgical team at RWJ recommended a non-surgical procedure to treat the residual lesion. Shawna was treated using the newest generation of the Gamma Knife in the region, Perfexion, available only at RWJ. Using pinpoint accuracy, thousands of beams of radiation were simultaneously delivered to dissolve the malformation while protecting the healthy surrounding tissue. Shawna went home the same afternoon and enjoyed dinner with her family, which would be impossible with conventional treatment. Today, she is back to her normal routine and looks forward to returning to college.
RWJ is home to the latest advances in neurosciences, including the Gamma Knife.
The Heart of Academic Medicine
RWJUH.edu/gammaknife • 732-418-8002 Principal Teaching Hospital for UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School • Flagship Hospital for The Cancer Institute of New Jersey Core Academic Medical Center for the Robert Wood Johnson Health System and Network