A new National Stereotactic Radiosurgery Service for people with cancer is being opened by Health Minister James Reilly today at Dublin's Beaumont Hospital.

This new service is designed to treat patients with cancerous and benign brain tumours as well as cancers in other parts of the body and is one of the most sophisticated and precise radiotherapy treatments currently available internationally.

Stereotactic radiosurgery works by focusing high-powered radiation on a small area of the body. It does not involve open surgery or incisions on the patient.

The new equipment, allows surgeons to target difficult to treat cancers, such as inoperable tumours deep in the brain where open surgery carries a high risk.

It enables treatment of the tumour while protecting the nearby healthy tissue. The recovery time is much shorter compared to open surgery and most treatments can be performed as a day case procedure.

Funded by a €1 million donation from the Friends of St Luke's, this new service at Beaumont has been developed in partnership with the St Luke's Radiation Oncology Network, the National Cancer Control Programme and the National Neurosurgical Centre at Beaumont.

The new service will add to the current stereotactic service in St Luke's Hospital, Rathgar.

Up to 100 patients are expected to benefit from the treatment in Beaumont this year, with that number increasing to around 200 annually over the coming years as the service develops.

It will also mean that patients will no longer have to travel abroad for this particular treatment, according to the HSE's National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP).