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To me it's a wonderful thing," he said. "and I think more people should know about it." Many people don't for a variety of reasons, according to Dr. Goodman, who explained that the equipment is expensive and that surgeons have to be extensively trained to use it. "Piedmont was only the fourth hospital in the United States, and the seventh in the world, to have a Gamma Knife in 1989," he said. "Today, this equipment is used at 130 medical centers, 40 in this country." Other units near Chattanooga are at the University of Alabama in Birmingham and at the Regional Gamma Knife Center in Memphis. "We don't claim that this technology can help every brain-surgery candidate," Dr. Goodman emphasized. "But for patients with a variety of central nervous system problems, the Gamma Knife can be a great option."