CyberKnife, a form of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), is backed by three decades of research showing how patients with prostate, lung, brain, spine, head and neck, liver, pancreas and kidney cancers benefit from CyberKnife treatment, according to Accuray, the maker of CyberKnife.
In fact, on Accuray’s website you can find 75 studies completed on brain and spine cancer, 26 on abdominal cancer, 27 on pelvic cancer, 19 on lung cancer and the list goes on and on to include breast cancer, ocular cancer and even veterinary oncology.
That’s why the experts at the CyberKnife Center of Miami – a center of excellence, and the leading cancer radiation treatment center in South Florida – believe when it comes to treating your cancer, you should choose a treatment backed by science and results, like CyberKnife treatment for cancer.
CyberKnife: How It Works
“CyberKnife is the most refined way to target a tumor and minimize the dose to surrounding healthy tissue,” according to Dr. Mark Pomper, board-certified radiation oncologist and medical director of the CyberKnife Center of Miami, the premiere radiation center for cancer treatment in South Florida.
CyberKnife’s missile guidance technology tracks a tumor’s movement in real time. Its robotic arm delivers the highest dose of radiation possible, but only to the tumor site, while leaving surrounding tissue and nearby vital organs unharmed.
“The patient could change their position or move their head, even slightly. The patient could cough. Muscles tense and relax, yet the beams stay directly on target. The CyberKnife System is the only device designed to adjust to all forms of patient and tumor movement while treatment is underway. With its motion adaptive delivery technology, the CyberKnife System also enables smaller treatment margins around the tumor, again minimizing the amount of healthy tissue exposed to high-dose radiation,” says Accuray.
This video from CyberKnife Miami, shows how CyberKnife takes real-time images of a tumor to accurately track it with every breath, delivering pinpointed radiation directly to the tumor. If a patient moves, the robotic arm makes real-time adjustments to prevent damage to healthy tissue.
“Accurate and precise delivery is crucial and greatly minimizes the risk of side effects, which leads to better quality of life for the patient both during and after treatment,” Accuray states.
CyberKnife: Who it Helps
CyberKnife can help treat both cancerous and not cancerous tumors. Here are just a few examples of patients who can benefit from CyberKnife.
- Brain cancer: CyberKnife can minimize risks of potential long-term side effects because of its accuracy. Patients who have been treated with whole-brain radiotherapy can be treated again with CyberKnife.
- Lung Cancer: Patients benefit because the CyberKnife system moves as you breathe normally, keeping the radiation targeted on the tumor, sparing damage to surrounding healthy lung tissue.
“The system provides a proven, non-surgical option for treating early stage, inoperable non-small cell lung cancer, tumors in challenging anatomical locations such as central lung tumors surrounded by sensitive structures and lung tumors near the chest wall, and inoperable peripheral lung tumors,” Accuray says.
- Liver Cancer: CyberKnife may help patients whose tumor cannot be completely removed with surgery or those who cannot undergo surgery. Plus, it can be used as patients wait for a transplant.
- Pancreatic Cancer: CyberKnife is a good option for patients with locally advanced cancer or those that may be inoperable. It can also be used in tandem with other treatments like surgery and chemotherapy.
- Prostate Cancer: Most patients tolerate CyberKnife treatment very well. Plus, CyberKnife has a very high success rate treating prostate cancer, according to CyberKnife Miami, about 95% when detected early.
- Spinal Cancer: CyberKnife’s precision matters when it comes to treating tumors close to the spine.
CyberKnife: Why it Matters
“I would not be alive without CyberKnife. I firmly believe that it saved my life,” says Maria, who was diagnosed with a benign six-centimeter tumor in her spine – just a few centimeters from her heart.
Because of its precarious location, surgery wasn’t an option. CyberKnife shrank Maria’s tumor, giving her hope for the future.
Miranda, was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 32 years old. After treatments with surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, she was told her cancer was in remission. Eight years later she found out her cancer had spread to her bones, liver, pleura and brain. Doctors used CyberKnife for the cancer in her brain. “With CyberKnife, I’ve been stable,” Miranda says. “It was literally a life saver.”
Maria and Miranda are not alone; there are patient success stories for everything from acoustic neuromas to lung cancer on Accuray’s website and on CyberKnife Miami’s website.
At CyberKnife Miami, we have many patients who credit CyberKnife with saving their lives.
“It can basically save your life,” says Jose, a CyberKnife Miami patient, who was treated for bone cancer that spread to the lung.
“CyberKnife is an intelligent and logical choice,” says Ricardo, also a CyberKnife Miami patient, who chose CyberKnife treatment for colon cancer that spread to his liver.
Cancer treatment, Miami Florida
At CyberKnife Miami we believe experience matters. And we’re here to help you whether you come to us first or a second opinion.
“Some medical or cancer centers that have CyberKnife technology do not have as much experience as we have using it. So, they get scared when they see a difficult case, and think it is not worth treating or are worried about complications. Other doctors feel if it is incurable why be aggressive? We feel the opposite. We feel why not try. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain, including the most precious gift of all, time,” says Dr. Mark Pomper, board-certified radiation oncologist and medical director of CyberKnife Miami.
“Because this is what we do all day, every day, we know what can and cannot be treated, and at the very least we are going to give it our best try,” says Dr. Pomper.
If you would like to find out more about treatment with CyberKnife, call us at 305-279-2900 or go to our website now for more information www.cyberknifemiami.com.