The CyberKnife — one of the most advanced forms of radiosurgery — is a painless, non-invasive treatment that delivers high doses of precisely targeted radiation to destroy tumors or lesions within the body. It uses a robotic arm to deliver highly focused beams of radiation. The flexibility of the robotic arm makes it possible to treat areas of the body, such as the spine and spinal cord, that can't be treated by other radiosurgery techniques.

UCSF Medical Center, which began offering CyberKnife treatments in March 2003, is one of only a few centers in California that offer this service. In many cases, patients with tumors that today are treated with the CyberKnife were previously considered untreatable with surgery or conventional radiation therapy.

Procedure

Radiosurgery minimizes radiation exposure to healthy tissue surrounding the tumor. Compared to other radiosurgical treatments, the CyberKnife offers several advantages to patients, including rapid relief from pain and other symptoms.

Treatments are performed on an outpatient basis, with each treatment lasting between 30 to 90 minutes. The number of treatments vary depending on the tumor size, location and shape but typically only two to five daily sessions are required. The CyberKnife allows patients to lie comfortably on the procedure table without anesthesia while the robotic arm moves, without touching them, to treat all areas of the tumor.

Recovery is often immediate, given its low risk of complications and damage to health tissue.

Some conditions may be treated with a different non-invasive radiotherapy device called the Gamma Knife, which also delivers a single, finely focused, high dose of radiation. At UCSF Medical Center, the Gamma Knife is used primarily to treat small benign or malignant brain tumors, epilepsy, trigeminal neuralgia or abnormal blood vessel formations located in the brain.

For more information about the program or to refer a patient, please call (415) 353-7175.

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Medical Center.
Last updated February 1, 2012