Stereotactic radiosurgery – treating patients noninvasively with high-energy radiation beams – often draws comparisons to science fiction, and why not?
Radiosurgical systems combine some of the most advanced medical, computer and engineering technologies to treat malignant and benign tumors in virtually any part of the body without ever touching the patient with a scalpel.
The Seton Family of Hospitals is pushing the envelope even further with a new operating partnership for its CyberKnife program offered through University Medical Center Brackenridge.
Re-launching in March as Austin CyberKnife, it is now managed by a newly formed professional partnership after having undergone several technology upgrades. Staff is also being added to expand treatment offerings.
Austin CyberKnife combines the Seton Family of Hospitals with a local physician group and US Radiosurgery, a company based in Nashville, Tenn., that partners with hospitals and physician groups throughout the country to develop, operate and market local radiosurgical centers.
US Radiosurgery has a network of nine centers throughout the United States. Austin is its first foray into Texas.
“The focused radiation treatments at Austin CyberKnife are not available anywhere else in the Austin area, and will be life-changing for many patients,” said Dr. Boone Goodgame, medical director of the Shivers Cancer Center, Seton Family of Hospitals. “The new partnership further enhances this technology and expertise so even more people will be able to benefit.”
CyberKnife already is among the most advanced radiosurgical systems. Its radiation beam is generated by a compact linear accelerator attached to a highly maneuverable robotic arm that moves around the patient, reaching targeted areas to within less than one millimeter and minimizing damage to healthy tissue.
Its sub-millimeter accuracy – combined with three-dimensional computer planning models and a tracking system that compensates for real-time patient movement – allows the CyberKnife to precisely target tumors and lesions with high-dose radiation, significantly reducing total treatment time.
Dr. Doug Rivera, Austin CyberKnife medical director, says the upgraded CyberKnife system includes a higher radiation dose delivery rate that allows enhanced calculations of radiation dosing for customized treatment plans. Other changes will enable physicians to control the radiation beam size, which should further reduce treatment times and offer greater protection of healthy tissue.
Plans also call for expanding the clinical staff with more radiation oncologists credentialed to treat patients with the CyberKnife.
Austin CyberKnife partners want to expand the program’s clinical applications. So far, the system has been used primarily for treating intracranial tumors. The CyberKnife’s hallmark, however, is its ability to reach tumors in virtually any part of the body – the lungs, pancreas, liver, spine, kidney and prostate, for example.
Radiosurgery can be especially beneficial for treating tumors that are too complex for conventional surgery or with patients who aren’t candidates for surgery because of other medical problems. It is also useful in treating tumors that may have already been treated unsuccessfully with traditional radiation therapy machines.
Moreover, the CyberKnife’s capabilities extend beyond cancer treatment. Its effectiveness has been shown in treating arteriovenous malformation (AVM), an abnormal cluster of blood vessels in the brain or spine. In some cases, AVM can cause epilepsy and neurological problems.
While other radiosurgery systems can treat AVM tumors in the brain, CyberKnife can treat them in the spinal cord, as well.
The technology also has garnered increasing attention for its ability to treat trigeminal neuralgia, a rare nerve disorder of the trigeminal (or fifth cranial) nerve that causes intense pain in the patient’s face, lips, jaw or forehead.
TN, as it’s known, can take years to diagnose and is frequently mistaken as a dental problem; some patients even undergo tooth extractions in a misguided attempt at relief. The pain is often unpredictable, and can be emotionally incapacitating for patients.
The CyberKnife’s radiation beams trim fibers along the trigeminal nerve, significantly reducing patients’ pain. Many TN patients who undergo CyberKnife treatment experience immediate relief, and about 80 percent experience lasting relief.
According to Rivera, the improved technology Austin CyberKnife provides will be able to offer all the radiosurgical system’s treatment capabilities.
“That’s why the new partnership is so exciting: because it expands the things we can do as clinicians,” Rivera said. “But most importantly, this brings an advanced cancer treatment option to our community, and we know it will give hope to a lot of patients and their loved ones.”
For more information, call 512-324-8060 or visit www.AustinCyberKnife.com.
