Apollo Speciality
Hospital
Cyberknife Treatment Process
The treatment of Cancer is a prolonged process and also a painful one. Not only the patient, but also his or her near and dear ones feel physically and mentally shattered at times. However, good times have come. With the advent of the CyberKnife treatment at the Apollo Speciality Cancer Hospital, the treatment of cancer has become almost cent percent accurate, safer, secure and highly comfortable. One of the main reasons is because CyberKnife is a non-invasive substitute to conventional surgery.
CyberKnife® treatment therapy is more or less like a team effort in which several experts and specialists take part. The patient needs to go through an extensive process to prepare him or her before the irradiation process starts taking place.
Step 1: Patient consultation
The patient consults the doctor to have an idea about the basis and objectives of CyberKnife® System.
Step 2: Patient preparation
CyberKnife® is a method of treatment which is absolutely frameless.
Fiducial Placement – A small outpatient procedure may be required by patients for treatment of prostrate or tumors in other parts of the body through the CyberKnife® treatment. In the short procedure, some tiny metal markers called ?ducials are planted near the tumor. This helps the CyberKnife® System to locate the position of the tumor during the treatment process. In case of head lesions, this step is not needed.
Making a Mask or Body Mold: This is mostly required for head and neck treatments. A body mold or soft mask is used to reduce movement as the treatment goes on and offer you minimal discomfort. It is a painless and simple process.
Step 3: Image acquisition
Before the treatment process starts, a CT scan is done. The scanning process is done to determine the proper size, location and shape of the tumor in addition to the bordering areas. Some more scans like PET CT/angiography, MRI and so on are also done .
Step 4: Planning
The scan image is then transferred digitally to the workstation of the CyberKnife® System. The specialized team then uses the CyberKnife® software to decide on a definite plan of treatment. Coming to the proper treatment plan is perhaps one of the time consuming and vital steps. Specialists like Clinicians, Physicists, Radiologists and Radiation Oncologists participate in the planning process. After proper consultation and planning, an individual plan of the delivery of doses is decided upon. This is done to optimize the effect of the treatment and minimize the risks.
A dosimetrical verification test is also done in the treatment process.
The CyberKnife® treatment therapy starts to operate after the development of the plan of treatment. The cyber controlled robot of the CyberKnife® System slowly moves around the patient and reached different locations from where it discharges radiation to the tumor.
A single treatment session takes around 30 to 90 minutes according to the type of treatment to be done.
The patient has to come for several days of the treatment if it is done in stages. In most cases, patients are able to continue their daily lifestyle after the CyberKnife® treatment session gets over. Nevertheless, the consultant does give the final advice regarding the preventive measures.
Follow-up
Patients who have undergone CyberKnife® treatment need to go through a follow-up monitoring program. There are some follow-up tests which the team sets. The follow up is one to provide the patient with appropriate understandings about the results of the treatment and the later management methods.
The follow up imaging process is usually made with a grouping of CT, MRI and/or PET scanning. The method is made in the following months after the treatment to supervise the response of the tumor to the radiation delivery.