CyberKnife zaps cancer
First such machine in Michigan provides pain-free treatment.
Sofia Kosmetatos / The Detroit News
Ricardo Thomas / The Detroit News
Dr. Geoffrey M. Thomas, a neurological surgeon, explains how the CyberKnife works. See full image
How CyberKnife works
Scanning: Before a patient undergoes treatment, images are taken to determine the size, shape and location of the tumor.
Planning: Doctors use the CyberKnife software to generate a treatment plan that avoids damaging surrounding healthy tissue.
Treatment: Generally lasts between 30 to 90 minutes, during which 100 to 200 beams of radiation are delivered from different directions, lasting between 10 to 15 seconds each. The system takes X-ray images in between the beams and compares them with an original CT scan, to correct for any movement of the patient during the treatment.
Follow-up: Patients get CT or MRI scans in the weeks and months following treatment to track the cancer.
Other facts
The system uses computer-controlled robotics and image guidance technology to treat tumors that are difficult to reach with more conventional radiosurgery systems that rely on a head frame. The system delivers treatment with sub-millimeter accuracy.
More than 30,000 patients worldwide have been treated by the system.
More than 50 percent of the treatments in the United States are extracranial and include treatment for tumors of the spine, lung, prostate, liver and pancreas.
ANN ARBOR -- Saint Joseph Mercy Health System will start treating cancer patients next week with an advanced radiosurgery system that can attack cancer anywhere in the body -- pain-free.
The CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System uses a robotic arm, which can adjust the aim of its radiation source on the cancer even as the patient breathes.
In contrast, older technology for brain tumors, for example, requires patients to have a frame screwed into their skull to prevent movement during treatment.
CyberKnife can treat all sorts of cancers, including those of the brain, pancreas and lung.
Only 63 of these $4 million units are available nationwide, and the health system said its machine will be the first in Michigan.
The health system, which will offer CyberKnife at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, has blanketed southeast Michigan with billboards and other advertisements touting the new treatment.
"It shows Saint Joseph's commitment to providing top-notch cancer care," said Lauren Stokes, spokeswoman for the health system.
Elizabeth Newhouse, 58, will be among the first to receive treatment next week. The Ypsilanti resident has been battling brain cancer for six months.
"You owe it to yourself to find the best possible option," said Newhouse of her decision to undergo CyberKnife treatment.
Because she already has received full head radiation, the only other option to try to shrink the tumors would have been radiation treatment with a Gamma Knife, Newhouse said.
Like the CyberKnife, that treatment targets just the tumors and not the surrounding brain tissue. But the Gamma Knife would have required the head frame. Instead, radiation therapists have molded a mesh-like mask to Newhouse's head that she will wear to limit her movement during treatment.
At a cost starting at $70,000, CyberKnife therapy is pricey.
But the cost can be offset in many cases by fewer costly stays in the hospital and fewer open surgeries, said Dr. Geoffrey Thomas, a neurosurgeon at the Michigan Brain & Spine Institute and the medical director of neuro-oncology at St. Joseph Mercy. Instead of multiple doses of traditional radiation, in many cases patients receiving CyberKnife may need only one session.
In addition, Saint Joseph Mercy Health System is working with private insurers in Michigan to approve reimbursement. Medicare already covers CyberKnife treatment, as do private insurers in other states.
St. Joseph Mercy Hospital treats 1,200 new cancer patients a year.
The CyberKnife System was developed in 1987 at Stanford University Medical Center and received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for treatment of head, neck and upper spine tumors in 1999.
Two years later, its manufacturer, Accuray Inc., got clearance from the FDA to enhance the system to treat cancers anywhere in the body. The system became commercially available in 2002.
In 2004, the FDA approved a respiratory tracking system that allows CyberKnife to treat tumors in areas affected by respiration, such as the pancreas or lung, while letting patients breathe normally throughout treatment.
You can reach Sofia Kosmetatos at (313) 222-2401 or skosmetatos@detnews.com.