When it comes to treating liver cancer, the goal is to avoid damaging the health of the liver as much as possible, according to Accuray, the maker of CyberKnife.
That’s why CyberKnife, a highly targeted form of Stereotactic Radiosurgery or SRS, “has emerged as a ground-breaking treatment option” for liver cancer patients, says Accuray.
CyberKnife can be used to treat different types of liver cancers, including primary liver cancer, metastatic liver cancer as well as medically inoperable or other complicated cases.
CyberKnife is “showing efficacy with low toxicity for primary liver cancer (e.g., hepatocellular carcinoma) and metastatic liver tumors. Additionally, the CyberKnife System can also be used as a bridge to transplantation,” Accuray says.
The system delivers powerful doses of radiation beams with pinpoint precision and tracking technology to continuously follow and target a tumor during the entire treatment.
This pinpoint accuracy hits only the tumor, leaving healthy tissue unharmed while destroying cancerous cells, which is especially important when treating liver cancer because the liver tissue is so sensitive to radiation and treating large volumes of liver tissue can destroy the liver.
Surgery or CyberKnife for Liver Cancer? CyberKnife Miami Shares Its Advice
Resection or surgery to remove the tumor is often the go-to treatment for primary liver cancer.
“If you’re talking about primary liver cancer, that is the best thing to do because the liver can regenerate itself,” says Dr. Mark Pomper, board-certified radiation oncologist and medical director of the CyberKnife Center of Miami.
However, if it’s a large tumor, and surgery would mean losing too much of the liver, radiation therapy should be considered.
“I would look at CyberKnife as the next choice because you can kill a large tumor with targeted radiation, and at the same time you minimize damage done to the normal liver tissue surrounding the tumor, which is vital because you’re saving as much of the liver as possible, giving it a chance to regenerate,” says Dr. Pomper.
“Despite the higher dose of radiation associated with Stereotatic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT), the efficacy of the CyberKnife System for primary liver cancer is equivalent to surgery with milder adverse events. The ability to adapt to motion and deliver precise doses of radiation enables clinicians to minimize radiation to healthy liver and surrounding organs at risk and to reduce toxicity,” CyberKnife’s website states.
“If you’re talking about liver metastases, which means tumors that have spread to the liver from another type of cancer in the body, then CyberKnife is an ideal option,” says Dr. Pomper.
CyberKnife is also an option for those who cannot undergo surgery or do not want to, and those whose tumors cannot be 100% removed with surgery, according to Accuray.
And CyberKnife was FDA-approved to treat liver cancer in 2001 and it is covered by Medicare and many private insurance companies.
A study of 75 liver cancer patients who were treated with CyberKnife showed that 89.8% of patients showed no cancer progression outside the liver two years after treatment. The survival rate at the one-year follow-up was 78.5% and 50.4% at the two-year mark.
CyberKnife Miami and Liver Cancer
CyberKnife Miami regularly treats liver cancer patients and has been doing so for more than 20 years.
Unlike surgery, most patients can keep up with their normal activities during and after CyberKnife treatments. There is no downtime. General side effects are most often minimal and short-lived. They may include nausea, weakness, lethargy, liver pain, slower liver function or rib pain. Medications can help control side effects if they occur, so be sure to ask your radiation oncologist about what to take just in case it should happen.
To determine if you are eligible to be treated with CyberKnife for liver cancer, call CyberKnife Miami for a consultation with one of our specially trained radiation oncologists at 305-279-2900, and go to our website now for more information www.cyberknifemiami.com.