CyberKnife
Destroying tumors in a more patient-friendly way
Parkview is proud to offer patients the benefits of treatment using the region’s only CyberKnife®, an amazing technology that destroys tumors, even in difficult-to-reach areas of the body.
This precise, painless outpatient treatment effectively targets tumors and dramatically reduces treatment time for some patients. Typically, only five or fewer CyberKnife treatments are needed, compared to as many as 40 conventional radiation treatments. With virtually no recovery period and no side effects, CyberKnife is a powerful weapon in the fight against cancer.
Donna Lucas, acoustic neuroma survior
Donna Lucas had a rare brain tumor. Parkview had CyberKnife®. The tumor didn't stand a chance. Hear Donna's inspiring true story, and learn more about the region's only CyberKnife technology, offering a non-surgical way to destroy tumors that were previously thought inoperable. See why Donna chose this painless, next-generation technology that she says "gives you zero downtime from work, zero recovery time, and less chance of side effects."
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CyberKnife, in brief
Parkview’s CyberKnife Program, a physician/hospital partnership, uses an amazing technology that destroys cancer tumors. CyberKnife is a robotic radiosurgery system that delivers focused beams of radiation to the tumor from numerous angles with a high degree of accuracy, preserving the healthy tissue surrounding the tumor. As an alternative to conventional surgery or radiation therapy, this noninvasive treatment offers many benefits traditional systems cannot.
The benefits of CyberKnife treatment
Since 2006, more than 836 patients have been treated with Parkview’s CyberKnife, experiencing significant benefits that improved their quality of life during and after treatment. CyberKnife can:
- Treat tumors that were previously considered inoperable or untreatable
- Treat patients in just a few sessions on an outpatient basis – sometimes in as little as an hour, so patients can go home or return to work the same day
- Treat tumors without incisions, pain or anesthesia
- Reduce the risk of complications, infections and blood loss
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A non-invasive alternative to surgery
As a CyberKnife expert, Brian Chang, MD, Radiation Oncology Associates, helps change lives. Here, he explains the benefits, and the process, of treating cancer and other conditions using Parkview’s CyberKnife.
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How CyberKnife works
Conventional radiation therapy administers a broad beam of radiation from a limited number of directions and at lower doses passing through normal tissues. It typically requires 10 to 45 treatments. CyberKnife’s more intense, tightly focused beams of high-dose X-ray/photon energy are delivered from many points around the body, all concentrating on the tumor, so damage to the surrounding tissue is minimized. Usually only one to five treatments are needed.
While certain soft-tissue applications do require a small incision in order to place markers for tracking purposes, most procedures using the CyberKnife are noninvasive. Unlike some other radiosurgery systems, which require painful head frames to stabilize the patient, CyberKnife is able to compensate for patient movement during treatment, so procedures are more comfortable and can be handled on an outpatient basis.
Tumors/conditions that can be treated with CyberKnife
Many types of tumor or lesion can be treated. In addition, other conditions throughout the body can be treated with CyberKnife. Among these are:
- Cancers in the brain, liver, lung, pancreas, prostate, kidney, head and neck, spine and other soft-tissue sites
- Certain benign tumors
- Malformations of blood vessels within the brain or spine
- Symptomatic functional disorders of the neurological system
View a more complete list.
For patients: You and your physician should talk with a radiation oncologist to determine whether CyberKnife treatment is indicated for your cancer or other medical condition. Call the Parkview Comprehensive Cancer Center’s CyberKnife coordinator at
(260) 266-9165 to schedule a consultation with an expert member of the CyberKnife Team.
During your outpatient treatments
Before your course of treatment with CyberKnife, your team of physicians, nurses, radiology staff and other healthcare professionals will create a treatment plan based on diagnostic testing and your needs.
The number of treatments varies from one person to another, depending on tumor size, location and shape. In most cases, one to five treatments will deactivate or eradicate the cancer. Treatments last, on average, from 45 to 90 minutes.
During your outpatient visits, you will simply lie quietly on a special table as the CyberKnife arm moves around you to deliver your treatment, guided by your physician and a radiation technologist. You may wear street clothes, and if you like, you may bring music from home to listen to while you relax.
CyberKnife® is a registered trademark of Accuray Incorporated.
Parkview Comprehensive Cancer Center is home to the region’s only CyberKnife. This cancer-fighting technology delivers targeted radiation even to difficult-to-reach areas of the body. During the painless outpatient treatments, patients can relax to music of their choice while enjoying an outdoor scene overhead.
Located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Parkview Comprehensive Cancer Center serves patients from northeast Indiana, northwest Ohio and southwest Michigan.
For more information on CyberKnife, call the Parkview Comprehensive Cancer Center’s CyberKnife coordinator at (260) 266-9165.