Cyber knife: indications and treatment features

Cyber-knife is a robotic radiosurgical unit that is used to treat malignant tumors in the brain, liver, spine, and benign neoplasms. The treatment procedure with a cyber knife has almost no contraindications and is accompanied by minimal side effects.

Operating principle

The installation is quite simple: a cyber knife includes a linear accelerator that generates radiation-damaging radiation, and the device itself that directs the radiation. The device is equipped with cameras that make it possible to obtain an x-ray image of a cancerous organ at different angles and, depending on this, to change the direction of the radiation beam.

Indications

Treatment with a cyberknife is preferable if the neoplasm is located in places difficult to surgically manipulate (in the brain or spine). This procedure is widely used for cancer of the liver, pancreas, kidneys, lungs, eyes, tumors of the central nervous system.

Benefits

One of the main advantages of a cyber knife is the high accuracy of irradiation. The installation purposefully affects the tumor with a powerful radiation stream, almost without damaging the healthy parts of the organ. Cyber-knife is effective in the treatment of cancer with metastases, while being an alternative to chemotherapy and hormone therapy.

Sessions on the cyber knife are one of the most modern and safe procedures with which to treat cancer. Cyber-knife allows you to get rid of oncology painlessly and quickly. The treatment session lasts from half an hour to two hours. Usually, the course of therapy includes several sessions. Their number is determined by the size of the tumor.

Cyber-knife is effective in the treatment of neoplasms up to 4 cm in diameter. The device is often used to remove meningiomas located near the optic nerves - thanks to high accuracy, a session on a cyberknife is much safer than a classic surgical procedure.

The undoubted advantage of this procedure is that it does not require anesthesia. General anesthesia has many contraindications, including myocardial infarction, bronchial asthma, hormonal diseases, heart failure. It is these pathologies that are absolute contraindications for anesthesia and, accordingly, for invasive surgical intervention. However, this does not apply to the cyber knife. This method of treatment in itself is not invasive and painless.

Side effects of this procedure is much less than conventional radiation therapy or chemotherapy. Among the side effects are general weakness and dizziness, which go through a few days. The course of rehabilitation after treatment is minimal, and in some cases it is not required at all.

Contraindications

The main contraindication to the procedure is a large tumor size (more than 4-5 cm in diameter).

Contraindications include dislocation of the brain (displacement of brain structures due to trauma) or even suspicion of any dislocation syndrome.

Cyber knife is not used for decompensation - violation of the body (heart, liver) or organ system, in which their functions can not be restored. The most common causes of decompensation are overwork, stress, diseases of various etiologies, and old age. If it is certainly impossible to restore the functions of the organ, then it is senseless to expose it to radiation. In case of decompensation, the organ affected by the tumor, as a rule, is replaced by a donor organ.

Cost of the procedure

Therapy with the help of a cyberknife is a procedure, no doubt, effective and has many advantages over other methods of treating oncology. Many patients will prefer surgical intervention such a progressive and accurate installation as a cyber knife. The cost of treatment depends on the size and dislocation of the tumor, the stage of the disease and a specific clinic. The price varies from 7 to 13 thousand US dollars. This cost does not include preliminary diagnostic procedures (X-rays, MRI, laboratory tests), which must be completed before starting treatment. It is these procedures that help to determine the exact location of the tumor, its size, the presence or absence of matastases.