Cyber knife: indications and peculiarities of treatment
Cyber-knife - robotic radiosurgicala device that is used to treat malignant tumors in the brain, liver, spine, and benign neoplasms. The treatment with a cyber knife has almost no contraindications and is accompanied by minimal side effects.
Operating principle
Installation is quite simple: The 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 cyber knife is preferable,if the neoplasm is located in difficult to access places for surgical manipulation (in the brain or spine). This procedure is widely used in 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 a highaccuracy 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.
The sessions on the cyber knife are one of the most modernand the safe procedures by which cancer is treated. 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 neoplasmsup to 4 cm in diameter. The device is often used to remove meningiomas located near the optic nerves - due to high accuracy, a session on a cyberknife is much safer than a classic surgical procedure.
The undoubted advantage of this procedureis 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 is not invasive and painless in itself.
Side effects this procedure has muchless than conventional radiation therapy or chemotherapy. Among the side effects are general weakness and dizziness, which occur after 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 the large size of the tumor (more than 4-5 cm in diameter).
Contraindications also include dislocation of the brain (displacement of brain structures due to injury) or even suspicion of the presence of any dislocation syndrome.
Cyber knife does not apply to decompensation -violation of the organ (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 advanced age. If it is impossible to restore the functions of an organ, it is pointless to subject it to radiation. In the case of decompensation, the organ affected by the tumor is usually replaced by a donor organ.
Cost of the procedure
Cyber Knife Therapy - procedure withoutdoubt, effective and having many advantages over other methods of treatment of oncology. Many patients will prefer a progressive and precise installation, such as a cyber-knife, to surgical intervention. The cost of treatment depends on the size and dislocation of the tumor, the stage of the disease and the specific clinic. The price varies from 7 to 13 thousand US dollars. This cost does not include preliminary diagnostic procedures (X-ray, MRI, laboratory tests) that must be completed before starting treatment. These procedures help to determine the exact location of the tumor, its size, the presence or absence of matastasis.
