CyberKnife

Overview

CyberKnife radiosurgery is an exciting novel approach to stereotactic radiation. As the name implies, this technique employs surgical precision without the knife. Stereotactic radiation utilizes special equipment to deliver cancer destroying doses of radiation while decreasing the normal tissue included in the treatment field. Using special equipment to position the patient and localize the tumor allows precise delivery of radiation therapy to the tumor. This has been used for many years for tumors in the brain for both benign and malignant tumors. CyberKnife expands our ability to deliver this type of precise therapy to anywhere in the human body.

In general stereotactic therapy is most useful in situations in which we can clearly identify the tumor, use imaging to localize the tumor before and during treatment, and in tumors that are not too close to the skin surface or involve critical normal structures. Tumors in the lung frequently meet these criteria, and that is where we have the most experience and most mature results with SBRT. Other treatment sites have included liver metastases, spinal metastases or paraspinal tumors, solitary bone metastases, and primary tumors of the prostate and pancreas.

CyberKnife is unique in its approach to stereotactic treatment. It has adapted a robotic arm that can move in any direction. This arm is equipped with a linear accelerator mounted at its end. Therefore, there are infinite angles that can be used to deliver treatment allowing for improved tumor coverage with high doses of radiation and better tumor control.

CyberKnife therapy can be used for tumors and benign conditions of the brain as well as the body. Most often, treatments are delivered in four or five fractions. The CyberKnife System is the world’s first and only robotic radiosurgery system designed to treat tumors throughout the body non-invasively. It provides a pain-free, non-surgical option for patients who have inoperable or surgically complex tumors, or who may be looking for an alternative to surgery.