ZAP-X® Gyroscopic Radiosurgery®

Baptist Health Miami Neuroscience Institute, in collaboration with Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute, offers ZAP-X®, one of the most advanced forms of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for treating brain tumors and certain functional disorders. ZAP-X complements the many other radiotherapy technologies used by the world-renowned experts at Baptist Health, allowing them to offer highly personalized treatments tailored to each patient’s needs.

This unique ability allows our radiotherapy physicians to evaluate multiple different radiotherapy treatment plans on different technology platforms for a single patient, called comparative treatment planning. Our physicians can also evaluate if multiple technologies are needed for the same patient, referred to as multi-technology radiotherapy (MTRT).

Innovative Stereotactic Radiosurgery

SRS is a noninvasive way to treat brain tumors. It doesn’t require an incision, making it convenient and easy for patients.

ZAP-X uses a groundbreaking self-shielded, gyroscopic linear accelerator design that makes it possible to attack a tumor from all around the head. It’s the first new dedicated radiosurgery technology platform in decades. With a fully integrated imaging system and exceptional precision, ZAP-X delivers radiation beams from hundreds of unique angles. This way, the treatment plan can be adapted to the shape of the target tumor. The system even detects and adjusts for any head movement that might occur during treatment.

Typically, the experts at Baptist Health treat people undergoing SRS in one to five visits. In most cases, patients return to their daily routines shortly after treatment. And overall, patient outcomes are equal to, or better than, traditional surgery.

Benefits of ZAP-X Treatment

ZAP-X offers many benefits, including:

• The care team can remain close to patients and readily provide comfort and assurance as they undergo treatment. Other forms of radiation therapy require patients to isolate in a shielded room during treatment.
• There is no need for invasive headframes to hold the patient’s head in place. Other brain radiation treatments require these frames. For the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia and tremor, a new head immobilizing frame has been created.
• Limited radiation exposure to healthy brain tissue and critical structures, such as the brain stem, eyes and optic nerves. Less exposure reduces the risk of serious side effects.
• The painless procedure doesn’t require anesthesia and has little or no recovery time.
• Brief treatments are performed on an outpatient basis.

Conditions We Treat

We can use ZAP-X to treat a variety of tumors, including:

• Acoustic neuromas (noncancerous tumors that grow on the nerve involved in hearing and balance)
• Meningiomas (tumors that form in the membranes around the brain and spinal cord)
• Metastatic tumors that travel to the brain from elsewhere in the body
• Primary brain tumors

In addition, ZAP-X may help treat other conditions, including:

• Arteriovenous malformations (an entanglement of vessels connecting arteries and veins that interferes with normal blood flow)
• Trigeminal neuralgia (a condition affecting the fifth cranial nerve, which may cause severe facial pain)

Our team of experts carefully evaluates your condition to ensure ZAP-X is the best treatment for you.