New Treatments Come With New Expectations

CyberKnife treatments involve a team approach in which several specialists participate.

Prior to the procedure, the patient is imaged using a high-resolution CT scan, to determine the size, shape and location of the tumor.

Following scanning, the image data is digitally transferred to the CyberKnife System’s workstation, where the treatment planning begins.

Our radiation oncologist and medical physicist work together, often with a collaborating surgeon, to create the treatment plan. The plan is used to match the desired radiation dose to the identified tumor location while limiting radiation exposure to the surrounding healthy tissue.

Once the treatment plan has been developed, the patient is comfortably positioned on the treatment table. The CyberKnife will slowly move around the patient to deliver the radiation to the tumor.

Each treatment session will typically last between 25 and 55 minutes, depending on the type of tumor being treated. Treatment are normally delivered in stages (typically no more than five), as determined by the patients doctor. Patients may experience some minimal side effects, but those often go away within the first week or two after treatment.