CyberKnife® Radiosurgery
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Specialist treatments < CyberKnife radiosurgery
What is CyberKnife® Radiosurgery?
CyberKnife radiosurgery is a precise, painless, non-invasive radiation treatment that can be an alternative to open surgery in certain cases.
Each individual beam is insufficient to cause harm, but convergence of all the beams results in the lesion receiving a very high dose of radiation.
CyberKnife radiosurgery is so precise that radiation beams can be sculpted to small, complex-shaped tumours near critical structures, such as hearing and vision nerves.
A brain tumour is treated at the European CyberKnife Centre in Munich
How does CyberKnife work?
What makes CyberKnife so unique?
100% Frameless
The ability of CyberKnife to correct for patient movement during treatment spares you from the pain and inconvenience associated with a conventional head frame, that must be fixed to the skull with screws. Published studies have shown that the frameless CyberKnife radiosurgery is as accurate - if not more so - as traditional frame-based radiosurgery.
'Full body' capability
The unique design of the CyberKnife system allows it to deliver precise, high dose radiation, not just to lesions in the brain but in the spine and to other organs. The various organs of the body respond differently to radiation treatment, so special protocols have been developed for different types of tumour.
Staged treatment
Because no frame is required, CyberKnife can perform “hypo-fractionated” or staged radiosurgery - where the total radiation dose is divided into smaller doses delivered over a period of days. This is especially beneficial for treating lesions near sensitive structures and larger tumours because it better protects surrounding healthy tissue.
Painless
CyberKnife allows you to be treated in a unique radiosurgery suite where painless “surgery” is performed, eliminating the risk of complications and lengthy recovery time associated with traditional open surgery.
Better quality of life, during and after treatment
The CyberKnife procedure allows you to resume normal activities immediately after treatment.
Treatment enquiries
To enquire about treatment at a choice of CyberKnife centres visit the CyberKnife Patients page.
PPM Consult Ltd. promotes selected clinics and certain specialities within individual hospitals where we believe the standards of care or medical equipment to be exceptional. We provide you with general information but we cannot advise or enter into correspondence about individual cases and we do not arrange or facilitate treatments. We shall not be responsible for the outcome of any treatment or failure to diagnose or treat and we recommend that all patients obtain professional medical advice on their proposed treatments.
Important note to all patients
CyberKnife combines two advanced technologies.
First is a lightweight radiation delivery system, mounted on a multi-jointed robotic arm. The robotic arm provides unparalleled access to tumours anywhere in the body.
It reaches areas that are untreatable with other radiosurgery systems and allows more flexible delivery of radiation from different angles, for optimum treatment.
Second is the image guidance system. This allows the CyberKnife to locate and track the tumour throughout the treatment, correcting for small patient movements.
Video from Accuray Inc., manufacturers of CyberKnife
Multiple beams of high-energy radiation are delivered from multiple points and converge precisely at the tumour or lesion inside the body.
This ability to irradiate the tumour accurately and to protect healthy tissue allows CyberKnife to treat many lesions which are either:
a) inoperable by surgeons or
b) untreatable by radiotherapy
because of the damage that would be done to nearby critical structures and healthy tissue.
The fineness and accuracy of the CyberKnife beams helps the treatment planners to avoid sensitive organs.
As this work continues at individual CyberKnife centres around the world, so the range of CyberKnife treatments available has increased.
Larger tumours
With its high power and precise targetting, CyberKnife is best suited to the treatment of small, well-defined early-stage tumours.
As tumours grow they tend to become less well defined and the number of CyberKnife beams that have to be used increases.
In these circumstances proton therapy may be the preferred option.
For larger tumours this can mean that the total radiation delivered would be too high and CyberKnife cannot be used unless the tumour is first reduced by surgery or chemotherapy.
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