CYBERKNIFE - INCREASINGLY THE RIGHT TREATMENT FOR MANY LESIONS AND TUMOURS
Precision without Incision
One of London's most senior Clinical Oncologists is St Bartholomew's Dr Nick Plowman. Dr Plowman heads this section and in his articles 'Cyberknife - Cancer Seek Destroy and Cure' he explains the use of the use of this powerful new treatment option as both a standalone method and in collaboration with other treatments such as chemotherapy.
As Dr Andrew Gaya explains: “Most advances in cancer treatment are small steps forward, but occasionally there is a giant leap. The CyberKnife System is a robotic radiosurgery machine that is revolutionising the way cancers are treated.”
Cyberknife is a way of extending radiosurgery from the head and brain to include the rest of the body. CyberKnife is in clinical use throughout the world with already over 60,000 patient treatments conducted. There are currently only 2 units in the UK, and over 300 worldwide.
It means that treatment is now painless and removes the need for an operation. It is a very accurate form of radiation treatment that can be used as an alternative to surgery in many cases. The key is delivering the right dose to the right place at the right time whilst minimising damaging effects on normal tissue. Dr Gaya says that he likes to think of it as “precision without incision”.
Cyberknife is now a viable alternative option for: * Major operations such as lung and liver resections, * Removal of pancreas and prostatectomy * Tumours in the body * Tumours in the brain and spine including brain metastases, primary brain or brainstem tumours, pituitary tumours, acoustic neuromas, meningiomas, arteriovenous malformations and trigeminal neuralgia.
Clinical oncologists are excited about this major leap in the application of the new technologies to treat cancer. In a way there is nothing particularly new as all of the theory has been in place for some time, but as the articles by the UK’s leading Cyberknife specialists in this section explain, it is the ability to combine all the technologies into one unit that suddenly opens the door to a host of new treatment possibilities.
