The CyberKnife treatment procedure is quite similar to what is being done for
radiotherapy patients. It involves five steps:
1) Consultation with the Patient:
Consultation with the patient can be made by phone at which time an appointment
is made.
After it has been determined that the patient is eligible for CyberKnife
treatment, the patient proceeds to patient setup.
The Initial Consultation:
Radiation oncologist and other physicians determine if the size and types of
tumors or lesions could greatly benefit from treatment with CyberKnife. Varying
physicians address issues that differentiate between cranial and spine
treatments and those of other extracranial treatments. A treatment can be
scheduled at this time and may begin with a one-hour treatment only a few days
later.
2) Patient Setup:
No head frame or body frame is
required for CyberKnife patient setups. The patient is fitted with custom fit
foam body cradle or custom-fit plastic mask. Placement of small metal
fiducials
may be required. This often takes place on the same day as a treatment.
For an intracranial lesion:
The radiation therapist will outfit the patient with a thermoplastic mask that
molds to the patient's face and keeps the patient's head immobile during
treatment.
For a spinal lesion:
Either the neurosurgeon or the interventional radiologist will implant 3-5 small
stainless steel screws in or near the lesion. If the patient has a soft-tissue
lesion, the surgeon or interventional radiologist will implant 3-5 gold seed
markers in or near the lesion. The gold seed markers and stainless steel screws
are used by the CyberKnife Tracking System to track and locate the lesion.
For lung, liver, pancreatic lesions, or any lesion that moves with respiration,
the patient will be outfitted with the
Synchrony tracking vest.
3) Treatment Planning:
Image acquisition (Diagnostic images of the lesion are taken.) CT images are
required but can be fused very quickly with
MRI, PET, and 3D Angio images.
Once the images are acquired, physicians easily and quickly outline the
treatment volume with the CyRIS InView Image Fusion and Contouring Station. Once
the treatment volumes are defined, the physicists generate the treatment plan to
deliver on the clinical objectives.
- It is fully optimized for full-body radiosurgery.
- The CyberKnife
treatment planning system is very flexible and allows images and
contours between the CyberKnife System and other systems to be sent and
received.
- The CyberKnife
treatment planning system generates a customized treatment plan to meet
the patient's clinical objectives. It generates a customized plan to deliver
hundreds of beams from many different angles to cover the lesion with the
dose but spare the surrounding healthy tissue.
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View Animation of treatment
4) Administering a Treatment:
CyberKnife assimilates and coordinates information as it moves in 50 to 100
positions, administering the s of radiation.
The CyberKnife system continually tracks patient and lesion movement and
delivers hundreds of different beams from different angles to ablate the lesion
but spare healthy tissue.
5) Follow-up Visit:
After the treatment or series of treatments are administered, the patient
returns three to six months later for a visit to determine progress. Evaluation
is often accessed with an MRI, which
can be done at this time.
