CyberKnife(r) Radiosurgery: Revolutionary Cancer Care

St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Ann Arbor, Michigan
First and only hospital in the state to offer CyberKnife(r)

To contact us by phone, please call: 888-474 HOPE (888-474-4673).

Saint Joseph Mercy Health System (SJMHS) has significantly enhanced its leadership capabilities in cancer care with the addition of CyberKnife(r). There are fewer than 100 CyberKnife(r) Systems at the world's top medical centers and only 50 in the United States. SJMHS has the only one in Michigan.

What is CyberKnife(r)?

The CyberKnife(r) System represents the next generation of radiosurgery systems. This very precise radiation treatment can pinpoint and destroy tumors deep inside your body with:

• No incisions
• No pain
• Minimal side effects
• Immediate return to normal activity

CyberKnife(r) combines continuous image guidance technology with a compact linear accelerator (radiation treatment). This combination, which is referred to as intelligent robotics, extends the benefits of radiosurgery to the treatment of tumors anywhere in the body. CyberKnife(r) has the flexibility to move in three dimensions according to the treatment plan your cancer care team develops for you or your loved one.

Technology Highlights:

• Non-invasive, outpatient procedure
• Accurate to within less than 1/25 of an inch (sub-millimeter)
• Accuracy equal to Gamma Knife, but without using a frame screwed into the skull
• Corrects for patient and tumor movement with continuous image guidance technology
• Can treat cancerous tumors and non-cancerous conditions throughout the body

“CyberKnife(r) is revolutionary in its degree of precision. We can deliver an extremely potent dose of radiation to a tumor without affecting the healthy tissues around it,” said Geoffrey M. Thomas, M.D., neurosurgeon and Director of Neuro-oncology at SJMHS.

Worldwide, physicians have used CyberKnife(r) to treat more than 20,000 patients. It has demonstrated success with a wide spectrum of cancers:

“CyberKnife(r) provides the option to treat tumors that were untreatable with traditional surgery, or at least were untreatable in the sense that the potential complications would have been too high,” Thomas added.

In addition, doctors have used the system to treat non-cancerous conditions, such as:

• Facial nerve pain (trigeminalgia)
• Abnormal blood vessels in the brain (meningiomas)

This proven, advanced technology was developed by Accuray Incorporated (Nasdaq: ARAY), a global leader in the field of radiosurgery. According to an independent study, this revolutionary innovation represents the only radiosurgery device in widespread use to treat cancers outside the head. (extracranial).
(Independent Survey of more than 1,600 hospitals and radiation oncology facilities)

CyberKnife(r) vs. Gamma Knife:

The technique of radiosurgery was first used in the 1960s. The Gamma Knife was designed to treat brain tumors and movement disorders. To immobilize the patient's head, doctors attached a metal frame to the skull with screws. Use of this frame limited Gamma Knife radiosurgery to treating cancers inside the head (intracranial).

CyberKnife(r) is the latest advancement in radiosurgery. The new technology does not rely on a frame for its refined precision.

“The CyberKnife(r) System achieves the same accuracy as frame-based radiosurgery. But, it uses image-guided robotics to avoid the need for a frame,” said Walter M. Sahijdak, M.D., radiation oncology specialist at SJMHS. “This approach is not only less invasive for treatments of head tumors, but has also made radiosurgery possible throughout the body. The key is that CyberKnife(r) requires no frame.”

Click these links for more details on the advantages of CyberKnife(r) treatment:

Remarkable Accuracy
Clinical Significance
FAQs

Other Web sites featuring CyberKnife(r) and its benefits:

Accuray
CyberKnife(r) Society
CyberKnife(r) Coalition
CyberKnife(r) Patient Support Group

Remarkable Accuracy:

Using a combination of continuous image guidance technology and computer controlled robotics, the CyberKnife(r) automatically tracks, detects and corrects for tumor and patient movement in real-time during the procedure. For example, it adjusts its aim as you breathe. This allows very precise delivery of high dose radiation directly to the target area. The accuracy is typically within less than one millimeter. (There are 25 millimeters in an inch).

CyberKnife(r) tracks skeletal structures. For many patients, this eliminates the need for doctors to implant markers (fiducials) in the targeted tumors or cancerous tissue. The CyberKnife(r) System identifies targets in the spine by direct reference to the nearby vertebrae and structures.

Stanford University Medical Center recently conducted a study measuring the accuracy of CyberKnife(r), clinically proving its impressive precision.
(Stanford University Medical Center Study)

Experience has shown this technology to be very effective under a wide range of clinical circumstances.

Clinical Significance:

According to the American Cancer Society's Cancer Facts & Figures 2007, doctors will diagnose an estimated 1.4 million new cancer cases this year in the United States. Of these cases, a large percentage are candidates for radiosurgery.

“Accuray is seeing significant demand for the CyberKnife(r) System to treat extracranial tumors, such as those associated with lung and prostate cancer,” said Euan S. Thomson, Ph.D., president and CEO of Accuray, the manufacturer of CyberKnife(r). “Recently published reports indicate a potentially significant shortfall in cancer treatment resources associated with the United States' aging population. As a pain free, non-invasive, outpatient procedure - radiosurgery is ideally suited to address this growing need.”

CyberKnife in the News