Revolutionary New Cancer Treatment Has Arrived CyberKnife®

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Source: CyberKnife Center of Philadelphia

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The CyberKnife Center of Philadelphia presents an entirely new approach to radiosurgery. Many tumors that were previously inoperable can now be treated using this revolutionary new technology.

CyberKnife Technology

CyberKnife® is the only FDA approved completely Robotic Stereotactic Radiosurgery System available in the world that targets and destroys small and previously inaccessible tumors or lesions anywhere the body.

As a non-invasive “operation”, CyberKnife has proven to be an effective alternative to surgery or conventional radiation for treating vascular abnormalities, tumors, functional disorders, and cancers with sub-millimeter accuracy. CyberKnife gives renewed hope and the possibility of a better quality of life, especially for patients with tumors previously diagnosed as inoperable, and for those who have already received the maximum amount of radiation through other treatment methods.

How the CyberKnife works

CyberKnife is a lightweight linear accelerator mounted on a robotic arm. Using image guidance cameras, the CyberKnife system locates the position of the tumor. Real-time imaging allows for patient movement, tracking with sub-millimeter spatial accuracy. Multiple radiation beams enter the body from different targeting positions and angles. All the beams intersect within the tumor or lesion where the cumulative dose is high enough to destroy the cancer cells.

Pinpoint precision allows the surgeon to deliver multiple radiation doses with millimeter accuracy while minimizing radiation to surrounding healthy tissue. This extraordinary flexibility allows the surgeon to reach and treat tumors at body sites often inaccessible with other radiosurgery systems

Technical Information

The CyberKnife uses non-invasive image-guided localization that is more convenient and less traumatic than other systems using the standard invasive stereotactic headframe (a rigid metal frame fixed to a patient’s skull for head immobilization and target localization). CyberKnife also uses an advanced, lightweight linear accelerator (LINAC), a device used to produce a high dose of radiation. In addition, CyberKnife also has a robotic delivery system that not only provides the flexibility to reach areas of the body unreachable by other systems, but is also instrumental in precisely aiming the device. The robotic delivery system integrates motion-tracking software, called the Synchrony System, with the robotics, making it accurate enough to even hit a moving target. As a patient breathes or moves slightly during treatment, the robot detects the motion and compensates in ‘real time’, ensuring that the radiation is accurately hitting the target (tumor) throughout treatment. CyberKnife can strike the tumor with a high dose of radiation from over 1200 different angles. This pinpoint accuracy allows malignant or benign tumors to be obliterated without damaging critical healthy tissue.

Using unparalleled accuracy and flexibility, the CyberKnife is able to treat many previously inoperable tumors and lesions in the body, including:

• Malignant tumors
  • Primary (e.g., astrocytomas, carcinomas, gliomas, lung, pancreas)
  • Metastases (brain and bony)
• Benign tumors
  • Acoustic neuromas
  • Craniopharngioma
  • Hemangioblastoma
  • Schwannomas
  • Meningiomas
  • Pituitary adenomas
  • Vascular malformations
  • arteriovenous malformations (AVM's)
  • Cavernous malformations
  • Functional disorders
  • Trigeminal neuralgia
  • Extracranial Tumors and Lesions
  • Base of skull
  • Neck
  • Cervical Spine
  • Thoracic Spine
  • Lumbar Spine
  • Pancreas
  • Liver
  • Lungs
  • Other lesions, tumors, and conditions anywhere in the body when radiation treatment is indicated

Advantages of the CyberKnife System include:

• A non-surgical treatment option - CyberKnife is a non-invasive, painless approach to radiosurgery.
• Greater flexibility - Using a fully integrated robotic delivery system, the CyberKnife allows for superior reach and maneuverability to previously inaccessible and inoperable tumors.
• Unparalleled precision – With sub-millimeter accuracy, concentrated radiation beams fired from 1,200 distinct targeting positions, are directly focused the tumor site, minimizing exposure and damage to surrounding healthy tissue.
• Superior accuracy - CyberKnife's image-guided robotic technology continually tracks patient movement and confirms tumor location prior to beam delivery, making it possible to treat lesions that move with respiration, such as lung and pancreas tumors.
• A frameless system - Unlike conventional radiosurgical technology, the CyberKnife system uses the skeletal structure of the body, rather than invasive metal frames and skull pins, as a reference point for identifying the tumor position throughout treatment.
• Higher radiation doses – Because of its targeted treatment precision, many patients who have already reached the lifetime dose limit of traditional radiation therapy to critical structures/tissues can receive additional treatment with CyberKnife.
• Fewer complications – Treatment with the CyberKnife system has a reduced risk of complications such as infections, hemorrhages, loss of hearing or feeling occasionally associated with conventional surgery
• Fractioned treatments – Unlike frame-based procedures, where the entire process must be performed in a single day, a CyberKnife patient does not need to wait in the hospital while the treatment plan is being developed.
• With CyberKnife treatment, a patient is free to leave the hospital after the setup (including pretreatment CT/MRI scans), and return on different days for treatment delivery.
• Better quality of life during and after treatment – CyberKnife treatments are typically performed as outpatient procedures.

With CyberKnife treatment, you can anticipate

• No hospital stays
• Short or no recovery periods
• No pain
• No anesthesia
• No blood loss
• No scalpel
• No need for hair shaving

The CyberKnife Center of Philadelphia

Under the leadership of the center’s medical director, Luther W. Brady, M.D., an internationally renowned radiation oncologist, patients will have access to some of the region’s leading surgeons and radiation oncologists to provide a team approach to the eradication of cancerous lesions and tumors.

The CyberKnife Center of Philadelphia is a freestanding, fully dedicated stereotactic radiosurgery center located in Havertown, Pennsylvania, offering state-of-the-art cancer treatment to patients with cancerous lesions not amendable to conventional treatment. The CyberKnife is an FDA approved total body radiosurgery device made by Accuray, Inc (www.accuray.com), developed to treat various tumors throughout the body with extreme precision by utilizing robotic technology and real-time imaging. To date, over 20,000 patients have been treated using CyberKnife technology. The CyberKnife Center of Philadelphia is the first CyberKnife center in the Philadelphia region.

Contact Us:

Please feel encouraged to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have, or to learn more about this revolutionary treatment call the CyberKnife Center of Philadelphia (logo) Coordinator at 610.446.6850 or visit phillycyberknife.com Our professionals are ready and willing to help.

CyberKnife Center of Philadelphia 2010 West Chester Pike Suite 115 Havertown, PA 19083 610.446.6850 www.phillycyberknife.com