Accuray Incorporated, a global leader in the field of radiosurgery, announced today that Neurosurgery, the official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, has issued a peer-reviewed supplement dedicated to CyberKnife radiosurgery experience.
The supplement, titled “CyberKnife Stereotactic Robotic Radiosurgery” features 15 papers from seven different countries, focused on brain and spine treatment using the CyberKnife® Robotic Radiosurgery System. All papers were subjected to thorough peer review by the editorial board of Neurosurgery and describe a wide range of CyberKnife treatment experiences. These papers highlight experience with the CyberKnife System from studies as large as 1,075 patients and for follow-up periods up to five years or more.
The benefits of the CyberKnife System’s ability to perform radiosurgery completely non-invasively, without the need for a head frame are highlighted in several of the papers, including one by Federico Colombo and colleagues, who reported on the treatment of 199 benign cranial tumors using CyberKnife radiosurgery delivered in two to five treatment sessions. Because the CyberKnife System does not require the use of a stabilizing head frame due to its continual image guidance and robotic capabilities, radiosurgery can be easily delivered in multiple treatment sessions. This is particularly important when targeting lesions close to sensitive critical structures.
Colombo and his associated authors obtained high rates of tumor control, even for large lesions and lesions near the sensitive brainstem and optic nerves, with low levels of treatment-related complications over an average 30- month follow-up. The authors estimate that the ability to treat in more than one session using the CyberKnife allowed them to treat more than 30 percent of patients that could not have been treated with single-session radiosurgery because the tumors were too large or too close to sensitive structures.
“The CyberKnife System has altered the way we think about what can be treated with radiosurgery. We would not have treated many of these patients using the previous single-session, frame-based procedure because of the high risk of complications,” said Federico Colombo, M.D., Director of the CyberKnife Center of Vicenza. “But by delivering treatment in two to five sessions, we were able to treat large lesions near sensitive structures, obtain excellent tumor control, and keep neurological complications to a minimum. In fact, in some of our patients, we were actually able to improve visual function, which we rarely see after single-session radiosurgery.”
Source: Accuray