The CyberKnife System Treatment Process
1: Customized Patient Setup for CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery
The patient and physician meet to determine CyberKnife treatment objectives. Patient setup begins with a CT or MRI scan, which can be acquired days before treatment at the patient's convenience. The surgeon and/or radiation oncologist use the scan(s) to identify the exact location, size, and shape of the tumor. Often cancer treatments are in areas with nearby critical structures. The scan(s) also show the position of critical structures to be avoided.
In cases where respiratory motion is a concern, a formfitting vest might be made. This elastic netlike garment maps the external movement of the body surface with the internal movement of the tumor using a complex combination of camera, motion-tracking software, fiber optic sensing technology, and red light emitters. If there are no bony structures near the tumor, metallic seed markers often called fiducials, each about the size of a pencil point, may be implanted as landmarks that enable the system to use the image guidance system to track movement of the treatment area.
2: Treatment Planning
Your CT or MRI scan has been integrated into the state-of-the-art image guidance system. Your surgeon and/or radiation oncologist meets with the CyberKnife physicist to determine the dose of radiation needed to destroy the tumor and plan the number, intensity, and direction of the radiation beams.
3: Treatment Delivery
During the CyberKnife procedure you will need to lie still. This robotic radiosurgery treatment involves the delivery of radiation beams from many different directions. To avoid healthy tissue and vital structures, the real-time image guidance system will continuously track the position of the tumor and adjust delivery of the beams.
Immediately following treatment, patients typically resume normal activity. No recovery time is needed.
4: Follow-up
Imaging is generally needed to monitor the treatment progress.
Your CyberKnife treatment team
Your treatment team will include a radiation oncologist, physician specialist, physicist, and other health care professionals. Often physician specialists involved with the CyberKnife robotic radiosurgery systems include, neurosurgeons, thoracic surgeons, interventional pulmonologists, urologists, surgical oncologists and radiation oncologists.