Cyberknife Radiosurgery

Understanding CyberKnife: A Revolutionary Approach to Cancer Treatment

The field of cancer treatment has seen significant advancements over the years, with one of the most innovative being the CyberKnife System. This groundbreaking technology has revolutionized the way tumors are treated, offering a non-invasive alternative to traditional surgery and radiation therapy. Here’s an in-depth look at what CyberKnife is, how it works, and its benefits to patients.

CyberKnife

What is CyberKnife?

CyberKnife is a robotic radiosurgery system designed to treat both cancerous and non-cancerous tumors. Unlike conventional surgery, which requires incisions, or traditional radiation therapy, which may involve multiple sessions and extended treatment times, CyberKnife delivers high doses of radiation with pinpoint accuracy to target tumors. This precision minimizes damage to surrounding healthy tissue, making it an effective option for treating tumors in sensitive areas, such as the brain, spine, lungs, liver, pancreas, and prostate.

How Does CyberKnife Work?

CyberKnife combines advanced imaging technology with a robotic arm that can move in multiple directions, allowing it to deliver radiation beams from various angles. Here’s a breakdown of its process:

1. Imaging and Planning

Before treatment begins, detailed imaging of the tumor is done using CT, MRI, or PET scans. These images are then used to create a precise treatment plan, mapping out the exact location, size, and shape of the tumor.

Medical Tests

2. Targeted Radiation Delivery

During the treatment, the patient lies on a treatment table while the robotic arm moves around them, delivering radiation to the tumor from different angles. The real-time imaging system continuously tracks the tumor’s position, even adjusting for movements like breathing, ensuring that the radiation is always focused on the target.

3. Non-Invasive and Painless

Unlike traditional surgery, CyberKnife requires no incisions, and most treatments are completed in 1 to 5 sessions. Each session typically lasts between 30 to 90 minutes, and patients can usually return to their normal activities immediately afterward.

Benefits of CyberKnife

  • Precision and Accuracy: CyberKnife’s ability to target tumors with sub-millimeter accuracy makes it ideal for treating tumors in critical areas where conventional surgery would be risky.
  • Minimized Side Effects: By sparing surrounding healthy tissue from radiation exposure, CyberKnife reduces the side effects commonly associated with traditional radiation therapy.
  • Versatility: CyberKnife is capable of treating tumors in virtually any part of the body, making it a versatile option for patients with inoperable or surgically complex tumors.
  • Outpatient Procedure: Since CyberKnife is non-invasive, most treatments are done on an outpatient basis, allowing patients to maintain their quality of life with minimal disruption.

Conditions Treated with CyberKnife

CyberKnife has been successfully used to treat a wide range of conditions, including:

Brain Tumor

Brain Tumors

Both benign and malignant brain tumors, including those located near critical structures.

Spinal Tumor

Spinal Tumors

CyberKnife can treat tumors along the spinal cord, minimizing the risk of damaging this sensitive area.

Lung Cancer

Lung Cancer

The system’s ability to track and adjust for lung movement during breathing makes it highly effective for treating lung cancer.

Prostate Cancer

Prostate Cancer

CyberKnife offers a non-invasive alternative to surgery for prostate cancer patients, with fewer side effects.

Pancreas Cancer

Liver and Pancreatic Tumors

These tumors can be challenging to treat due to their location, but CyberKnife’s precision offers a safe and effective option.

FAQs

Cyberknife treatment is not done through an incision or cut on the body. It is called a Cyberknife because of its precision like a knife. The treatment is delivered from a distance, & no form of incision or cut is needed.
The medical team may ask for additional investigations like MRI, CT scan depending on the area to be treated. Moreover, in certain situations, the team may suggest the implantation of markers called fiducials which can help identify & track the tumor during the treatment, adding to the precision of treatment.
The number of sessions depends on the diagnosis, area to be treated & the presence of critical normal structures nearby. It is decided and discussed by the medical team with the patient at the time of the first consultation. In the case of treatment offered by stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), it is a single session treatment. If it is stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT), it may be multiple sessions, given one treatment per day. Even in the case of multiple sessions, the total number of treatments ranges from 3-6.
Cyberknife is a painless treatment. The patient will not feel any pain, heat, or shock during the treatment.
The patient will be able to go back home on the same day after treatment. Cyberknife treatments are generally OPD-based.
Side effects are generally mild and minimal. The medical team will discuss the possible side effects with the patient during the initial consultation.
Cyberknife is involved in one of the radiation therapies called SRS or stereotactic radiosurgery. The other name for this procedure is stereotactic radiotherapy which precisely kills the tumors through focused doses of radiation.
For the majority of the patients treated with Cyberknife, the success rate is more than 97%. The patients recovered from tumors after cyberknife are going disease-free for more than 4 years.
The side effects occurring due to radiation from the Cyberknife treatment may be hemoptysis, radiation fibrosis, breathing difficulty, radiation pneumonitis, etc.
The effectiveness and local control of this type of treatment are equal to other surgeries. As cyberknife treatment is non-invasive, the chances of side effects are significantly very less.
As it is non-invasive, there is no need for an immobilization device. Hence, a patient won’t experience any pain during this treatment. Moreover, it can reach untreatable lesions in the brain or the body.
Although the cost may vary depending upon the case, the average cost of cyberknife treatment may be between 4 lakhs to 5 lakhs. However, radiation therapy may cost you around Rs 50,000 to nearly 2 lakhs.
The straight answer to this is NO as fatigue is the most common side effect. Although patients can get back to their regular activities after the procedure, it is recommended not to drive after the cyberknife treatment.
No, because the treatment is targeted towards the specific lesion. As the accuracy of this treatment is high, skin burns or hair loss will not occur after it.
Yes, it is the best alternative to radiation therapy. The treatment is not just safe but also effective for untreatable tumors.

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