CyberKnife^® : The cutting edge technology in precision surgery

Abstract

Radiation therapy (RT) is an important part of treatment for cancer patients. Stereotactic radiosurgery is a type of RT that uses narrow beams of radiation coming from different angles to very precisely deliver radiation to a tumor while sparing the surrounding normal tissue. Traditional radiosurgery systems have limited mobility. They generally require the use of rigid frames attached to a patient's skull to effectively target a tumor. CyberKnife® (Accuracy, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, USA) is a revolutionary radiosurgical device that uses a combination of robotics and sophisticated image-guidance technology. CyberKnife® is noninvasive alternative to surgery where high dose radiation beams can be given from any angle by precisely concentrating on the tumor while causing minimum damage to the nearby healthy tissue. The purpose of this article is to review the CyberKnife® robotic radiosurgery as an ideal option for treatment when there would be instances where a tumor cannot be operated completely due to locality of the tumor close to critical structures or tumor may only be partially excised.