CyberKnife

CyberKnife doesn’t involve any physical cutting. It’s a painless treatment that uses extremely precise beams of radiation to treat a target area of the body.

This accuracy means less healthy tissue is damaged during treatment, and you spend less time in hospital.

Treatments with CyberKnife radiotherapy are often completed in a single session or three to five days as an outpatient procedure.

First, you’ll be scanned by a CT scanner or possibly an MRI scanner.

The images produced by the scanners are used by your multidisciplinary team to create a unique treatment plan for you.

Your treatment plan shows the exact area of your body to be targeted and the organs and internal structures to be protected.

The plan also shows what angles CyberKnife’s robotic arm will be positioned at and how each of the beams of radiation will target your treatment area.

Your consultant then reviews your treatment plan with our experienced Medical Physics team. Together, they decide whether it should be approved.

CyberKnife treatment usually lasts between 30 to 90 minutes.

During this time, the robotic arm of CyberKnife will position itself around you and treat you with around 80 to 150 narrow beams of radiation.

Your tumour may move slightly because of your breathing or movements of your body.

CyberKnife continually checks for this by using multiple x-ray cameras and powerful software.

If the CyberKnife machine does spot that your tumour has moved, it automatically adjusts the beams of radiation.

This maximises the accuracy of your radiation treatment at all times to avoid damage to your healthy cells and surrounding organs.

Sometimes small metal markers called fiducials may need to be implanted around the target area. Fiducials help CyberKnife track changes in the position of a tumour.

If you need fiducials, a trained CyberKnife radiologist will fit them prior to your treatment.

If you’re being treated for prostate cancer, you may also be offered a SpaceOAR gel implant to minimise the possibility of side effects.

Non-invasive

Treatment with CyberKnife radiotherapy is painless and does not require surgery.

This means there’s no need for medication or sedation (anaesthetic) to reduce pain or discomfort.

As a result, your consultant may recommend CyberKnife to you if you wish to avoid major surgery.

CyberKnife might be your best option if surgery is something that may not be suitable for you.

When you’re treated with CyberKnife, you simply lie down and relax while the robot arm of the CyberKnife machine moves around you.

The CyberKnife arm will even adjust for movements made by you and your breathing, ensuring the radiotherapy is always delivered to your cancer with great precision.

This means people with head and neck cancer do not need to wear a fixed head restraint, which is something they may be required to do as part of more conventional radiotherapy treatments. With CyberKnife you’ll normally have to wear a face mask, and we’ll create this for you so it’s a comfortable fit.

Incredible accuracy

CyberKnife delivers highly focused beams of radiation that treat tumours with pinpoint accuracy.

This includes cancers that previously couldn’t be treated with conventional radiotherapy or surgery. CyberKnife also features multiple x-ray cameras and powerful software.

These allow your consultant to view your tumour in real-time and accurately target your cancer throughout your treatment. We also have a 3T MRI scanner at The London Clinic that can produce high-resolution images of where your cancer is located in your body. This allows your doctor to create a treatment plan that’s incredibly detailed.

Minimal recovery time

CyberKnife is carried out as an outpatient procedure that usually lasts 30 to 90 minutes. There is no need for anaesthetic, and this reduces your recovery time. Short term side effects caused by CyberKnife are usually temporary and mild because less healthy tissue is damaged.

Any side effects you do experience will also depend on which part of your body was treated. In contrast, conventional surgery may lead to you requiring lots of support following your operation and take you several weeks to recover from. A course of CyberKnife treatment normally finishes in a week or less, allowing you to get back to your life as soon as possible.

Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) is the name of the treatment performed by CyberKnife. SABR used to be called stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT).

CyberKnife is a specialist SABR technology which makes it superior to similar technologies, such as Varian Edge or Elektra Precise.

CyberKnife SABR treatment is available for:

• People whose general health makes it hard for them to have extensive surgery or an anaesthetic
• People who want to avoid surgery for personal reasons

In addition, SABR can be used for tumours not suitable for conventional radiotherapy. SABR can act as a boost to previous treatment with conventional radiotherapy too.