“Everyone at CyberKnife Miami made me feel so comfortable and are so nice. I can’t say enough great things about them,” says CyberKnife Center of Miami patient Mike Cibula, who was treated for prostate cancer 10 years ago.
“All of the doctors, radiation therapists, and staff work together as a team. They were all there for my first treatment, and they continued to call to see how I was doing years later. Their compassion is just incredible.”
CyberKnife Miami is a premier radiation cancer treatment center in South Florida. We use state-of-the-art image-guided radiotherapy called stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) to treat cancer and other medical issues requiring radiation. But CyberKnife Miami is so much more than just a cancer treatment center. We work hard to make a difficult diagnosis more manageable.
Dr. Mark Pomper, medical director of CyberKnife Miami and board-certified radiation oncologist says, “The most common comment I get from patients is, ‘you probably have no idea how good your staff is. They take a potentially frightening experience and make it a warm and friendly one. That is what sets CyberKnife Miami apart from other cancer treatment centers.”
CyberKnife Miami’s chief patient coordinator, Maria Kristina Borgen says, “We answer all their (patients’) questions, we want them to feel confident in the treatment they have chosen and in our team. But we take it even a step further, we make them feel special and give them the attention they deserve. We want them to feel safe, comfortable and reassured that they are in good hands. We help them through every aspect of their treatment plan that we can, and just as important, we always keep an open line of communication with the patients and their families, because this is a scary time for all of them. They need someone to hold their hand through the entire process and that is what we do best. We are always there for them, whatever they need.”
The CyberKnife Miami Advantage
Here are just a few other examples of what sets us apart and how we help to make a cancer diagnosis more manageable.
CyberKnife Miami Answers the Phones
“By far the majority of the time, during business hours, when you call the center, you will get a live person on the phone,” says Maria Kristina.
Cancer patients and their loved ones tell us that just picking up the phone to make that first call is terrifying. At many hospitals and clinics, the first point of contact for patients is voicemail, an answering machine that says, “Leave a message and we’ll get back to you within 24 to 48 hours.”
If you do get someone on the phone, it is likely a scheduler who has no idea how hard the call was to make in the first place.
Not at CyberKnife Miami.
We answer every call we can during business hours and that is 99.9% of the time. If we happen to be too busy at that moment, which can happen, we call you right back as soon as we possibly can. We feel it is so important to get a real person on the phone. Also, a person who is compassionate and sympathetic, knowing what you are going through. That is our promise to you from the first call you make to us, all the way through your treatment and afterward. We want to know how you and your family are doing.
CyberKnife Miami Coordinates Care
We help our patients, and their families make vital treatment decisions, get scans done, answer insurance questions, have logistical issues, and the list goes on. We work hard to coordinate your treatment plan so you can focus on recovery and getting back to your normal life.
Mike says, “It’s refreshing to hear patients tell the doctors and the staff at CyberKnife Miami how nice and friendly they are, and what a difference it’s made for them, from the time you walk in the front door, I never would’ve believed it had I not seen it myself. Especially in this day and age of medicine.”
Experience at CyberKnife Miami Matters
You should also know at CyberKnife Miami, we treat patients who have been turned away from other centers and told there is nothing more that can be done for their cancer. That is because we have the experience and expertise to help those patients, as well as patients whose cases may not be as difficult and a bit more straightforward.
“A lot of medical or cancer centers that have CyberKnife do not have as much experience as we have using this technology. So, they get scared when they see a big tumor or 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, why even treat it at all?” explains Dr. Pomper. “We feel the exact opposite. We say why not treat it, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”
Dr. Pomper is one of the first physicians trained in CyberKnife in the Southeast United States, along with his entire medical team. CyberKnife Miami has been doing this the longest, treating patients in South Florida and around the world for more than two decades.
“This is what we do all day, every day. We know what can and cannot be treated,” he says.
CyberKnife Miami Treats Local, Nationwide, and International Patients
“When I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, I thought my world was coming to an end. I spoke with many men about their prostate cancer treatments, and 95% told me that they had bad experiences with open surgery (prostatectomy) or standard radiation and many felt very sick from their treatments,” says Howard who was diagnosed with prostate cancer several years ago.
Howard is a CyberKnife Miami patient, who came to us from Trinidad where most treatments include surgery or traditional radiation.
“I did my research and was convinced this is where I needed to go for my treatment,” he says.
One month later he was in South Florida beginning CyberKnife treatment under the care of Dr. Pomper and his team.
Howard says he chose CyberKnife Miami because of our vast experience and the staff’s commitment to compassionate patient care.
“Howard was an excellent candidate for CyberKnife,” says Dr. Pomper. “He was in good health and while his PSA levels continued to rise, his MRI and bone scan showed that the tumor was localized to his prostate. So, we were not worried that the cancer had spread to other areas. The procedure went very smoothly, and he tolerated it well enough that he was able to go about his life and get out and enjoy Miami, visiting many top sights while he was here undergoing treatment.”
And with patients like Howard who travel to us, we not only help with their care, but we also help with travel arrangements, hotel, and whatever it takes to make their journey easier.
CyberKnife Treatment Miami
CyberKnife Miami is a free-standing outpatient cancer treatment center.
We treat spine, brain, lung, kidney, pancreas, liver, prostate, and lymph node tumors. We also treat lymphoma and other conditions in the body where radiation treatment is necessary.
CyberKnife’s missile guidance technology enables the SBRT to track a tumor’s movement in real time. The technology delivers radiation directly to the tumor while leaving healthy surrounding tissue unharmed.
With CyberKnife, patients have a shorter course of treatment than with traditional radiation because SBRT is targeted radiation.
“Because we are so precise in our treatment, we can minimize the dose to surrounding tissue, so any side effects are minimal,” says Dr. Pomper.
Side effects from CyberKnife often depend on the area being treated, the type of cancer a patient has, and a person’s overall health. But with our vast experience, we can do a lot to help minimize side effects.
Our doctors and staff are experts in the field of cancer treatment with CyberKnife technology. Our compassion and personalized treatment can make a big difference and is what you need when it comes to treating your cancer.
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.