Robotic Cyberknife to treat cancer
POSTED January 1, 2009 - 19:02 | POSTED BY Jaspreet Kaur
Last edited by Harpreet Bhagrath on January 1, 2009 - 20:46
London, UK, January 1: The latest innovation in the field of cancerdefine treatment has come up in the form of a robotic Cyberknife.
The first of its kind Cyberknife will start working in London, UK, from February 2009. However, 15 other countries have got the machines and will treat 50,000 patients in the first half of 2009.
The latest machine is basically a robot radiotherapy machine. It works with a lot of precision because of the robotic arm. This arm revolves around the patient according to his breathing pattern.
The Cyberknife is much more capable than the traditional radiotherapy devices that are currently used. Only three sittings of powerful radiations are needed in the case of Cyberknife. Presently, around 20 sessions of low-dose radiations are required to be administered for the treatment.
The technology used in the Cyberknife system is called image guidance. This software constantly traces the tumor movement and can adjust according to the patient’s requirement. This makes the patient feel relaxed and breathe normally.
Through the robotic arm, very thin beams of radiations can be directed towards any body part. As per information from a BBC news article, “The cyberknife works by delivering multiple beams of high dose radiationdefine from a wide variety of angles using a robotic arm. X-ray cameras monitor the patient’s breathing and re-position the radiotherapy beam in order to minimise damage to healthy tissue. This accuracy enables tumours to be treated that are in difficult or dangerous to treat positions, such as near the spinal cord.”
One of the drawbacks of this type of treatment could be the fact that it is quite expensive. It costs between £20,000 and £25,000.
With the current system, it is even possible to cure tumors which were earlier thought to be inoperable. The treatment does not show instant results but slowly it stops the growth of tumors. Gradually, the size of the tumor goes on decreasing then.
Moreover, the recovery time in this case is less since there is no open surgery. So, the patients can be discharged the same day and do not have to bear the side effects of surgery.
