“Never lose hope. Keep working, planning, traveling. Continue living your life every day to the fullest. Fight it, fight to the end,” says Charles, an 81-year-old patient of the CyberKnife Center of Miami, a cancer treatment center using a state-of-the-art form of radiation to kill cancer.
Charles was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 1973, but doctors removed the tumor. Charles remained cancer free for years. In 2010, the cancer returned. This time it was Stage III pancreatic cancer.
Luckily, he beat the cancer again — for a period of time, but it returned. In addition to surgery, doctors treated Charles’ pancreatic cancer with traditional radiation, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy. The treatments help to reduce the size of the tumor, but not completely.
That’s when Charles did his homework and found the CyberKnife Center of Miami.
“I went on the internet and read that CyberKnife could kill tumors without causing any harm to surrounding organs, that it was non-invasive, there were no side effects or downtime, and it could be repeated if a tumor came back or another one popped up in my body,” he explains on CyberKnife Miami’s YouTube Channel.
“Charles is a great example of what modern medicine can do for cancer patients, and it is not debilitating,” says Dr. Mark Pomper, board-certified radiation oncologist and medical director of CyberKnife Miami. “Cancer has spread throughout his body. Yet he’s gotten amazing control of it since we first saw him four years ago using CyberKnife radiation therapy and chemotherapies.”
CyberKnife Treatment Pancreatic Cancer
Using traditional radiation to treat tumors in and near the pancreas is difficult at best because the stomach, bowels, kidney, and liver are close by – making the pancreas difficult to target. That means the tumor may not get enough radiation to kill it and healthy tissue may be damaged during treatment, according to the top cancer experts at CyberKnife Miami.
“Pancreatic cancer is a devastating disease and often it’s not resectable,” Dr. Pomper says on CyberKnife Miami’s YouTube Channel.
CyberKnife’s missile guidance technology and respiratory tracking system enables the Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy or SBRT to track tumor movement in real time. This way it can deliver the high doses of radiation while leaving healthy surrounding tissue unharmed.
“With Stereotactic Radiotherapy you’re able to give a very, very high dose to just the area of disease, and it’s well tolerated. You can get better disease control,” Dr. Pomper says.
Treatment of pancreatic cancer depends on the stage of the disease. Treatment response of pancreatic tumors using CyberKnife varies from patient to patient, and it may take several weeks to see if the CyberKnife treatment is working.
However, studies show promise. With CyberKnife, the growth of pancreatic tumors in patients with advanced disease has been controlled without damaging the bowels, kidneys, and liver.
The maker of CyberKnife says there are key benefits to treating pancreatic cancer with CyberKnife:
- Clinical evidence shows good cancer control.
- Treatment is non-invasive.
- CyberKnife can minimize common side effects of pancreatic cancer treatment like gastric obstruction.
- Treatments can normally be completed in five sessions.
- Treatment can be combined with other therapies like chemotherapy.
- And treatment can be repeated if necessary.
Charles Story Continues
“Charles is a walking miracle. When you meet him, you won’t believe he has cancer. He should give other patients great hope even when cancer has spread throughout the body, modern medicine can extend life and quality of life for an indefinite period of time,” says Dr. Pomper.
Charles’ advice to other cancer patients: “You must do your own research on all available cancer treatments. Don’t leave any stone unturned. No one told me about CyberKnife, I found out about it myself. I recommend everyone check it out.”
Cancer Treatment Center Near Me
CyberKnife Miami opened its doors nearly 20 years ago and was the first CyberKnife center to open in the Southeast United States.
We treat patients from Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and Monroe counties as well as patients from across the country.
If you would like to find out more about pancreatic cancer treatment with CyberKnife, call us at 305-279-2900 or go to our website now for more information www.cyberknifemiami.com.