CyberKnife
The CyberKnife offers an entirely new approach to Radiosurgery. Incorporating a miniature, light-weight linear accelerator mounted on a robotic arm, the CyberKnife delivers targeted, concentrated beams of radiation. The technology provides the surgeon unparalleled flexibility in targeting tumors and lesions in the brain, spine, lung, breast, pancreas, liver and much more in a non-invasive manner with surgical-like outcomes. Advanced image guidance technology tracks patient and target position during treatment, ensuring accuracy without the use of an invasive head frame. The CyberKnife has often been used to treat otherwise untreatable tumors and malformations, most of which are unreachable by other stereo tactic systems
CyberKnife offers a revolutionary new treatment for treating harmful tumors that does not require invasive procedure or anesthesia and lets the patient go home immediately afterwards.
The CyberKnife is a computer-controlled Radiosurgery system that delivers radiation to tumors in the brain, spine and anywhere in the body with sub-millimeter accuracy, while avoiding damage to surrounding healthy tissue. This pinpoint accuracy allows physicians to reach cancerous and benign tumors and abnormal tangles of blood vessels (vascular malformations) that in the past may have been impossible to treat.
Synchrony Respiratory Tracking System
The Synchrony System will allow physicians, for the first time, to treat their patients with much tighter margins, no longer having to add significant margins to compensate for a moving target, thus sparing more healthy tissue.
Synchrony uses a complex system of cameras, motion tracking software, fiber optic sensing technology, infrared emitters and a special formfitting, highly elastic patient garment to do its job. In conjunction with CyberKnife, the system identifies updates and then correlates external body surface movement with movement of the internal tumor fiducials. Throughout the procedure, Synchrony is monitoring the target and readjusting its calibrations to assure that it is locked on the tumor. The result is that physicians know exactly where the tumor is in real time, and can use maximum radiation without fear of harming surrounding healthy tissues.
• Dynamically tracks all targets that move with respiration
• Improves accuracy of radiation delivery
• Minimizes irradiation of healthy tissue or critical structures
• Treats complex targets
• Eliminates painful breath-holding
• Eliminates complex gating techniques
• Decreases treatment times
• Simpler, more streamlined procedures
The Synchrony System simultaneously tracks both movement of the tumor and breathing patterns of the patient. The robotic arm adjusts and compensates for these movements ensuring more accurate treatment and eliminating breath-holding or gating requirements. A recent multi-center study reported targeting centroid accuracy better than 1.5mm.
Expanding accurate radio surgery treatment to all tumors that move with respiration such as lung, pancreas, liver, kidney or other abdominal or thoracic tumors.
The Synchrony System permits patients to breathe normally throughout their treatment, without breath-holding or gating techniques
WHAT CYBERKNIFE CAN TREAT
The CyberKnife Radiosurgery system is uniquely designed to treat tumors and lesions throughout the body. We utilize the CyberKnife’s precision to spare healthy tissue while destroying the tumor with highly targeted radiation. With CyberKnife we are able to treat, benign tumors, malignant tumors, vascular malformations and functional disorders located in:
• Brain
• Spine
• Skull Base
• Orbit
• Musculo-skeletal
• Lung
• Liver
• Pancreas
• Prostate
PATIENT INFORMATION
Compared to other radiosurgical treatments, the CyberKnife offers several advantages to patients, including rapid relief from pain and other symptoms. Recovery is often immediate, given its low risk of complications and damage to health tissue.Treatments are performed on an outpatient basis, with each treatment lasting between 30 and 60 minutes.
The number of treatments varies depending on the tumor size, location and shape but typically only one to five daily sessions are required. The CyberKnife allows patients to lie comfortably on the procedure table without anesthesia while the robotic arm moves, without touching them, to treat all areas of the tumor.
CyberKnife treatment utilizes a team approach where medical experts collaborate with you as their central focus. Team members may include a surgeon, radiation oncologist, medical oncologist, medical physicist, nurse, radiation therapist and other team members within the clinic.
The CK Society has produced a very informative patient education video that can be viewed online. The video gives an overview of the technology, and the patient treatment process for Head and Brain Lesions, Spinal Lesions and Lung and other Soft Tissue Lesions.
