My Journey
Living with a Brain Tumor


CyberKnife Radiosurgery

Chapter 15

by Sandra Beardsley

Dear friends,
I recently found out about one of the newer technologies to treat tumors of the brain and spine. I am very excited about this and think it can help a lot of people. It is a stereotactic radiosurgery system called Cyberknife (older radiosurgery was called Gammaknife). Patients were treated with the Cyberknife beginning in the early '90s at Stanford University and the Cyberknife technology has been improved over the years. The Cyberknife system uses the combination of a robotics and image guidance system to deliver concentrated and accurate beams of radiation to tumors (even tumors considered inoperable). It does not matter if you have had radiation treatments previously. Because the Cyberknife is non-invasive, it has significantly fewer complications than traditional open surgery and can often achieve comparable or better outcomes. I am very excited about this because I have been told that my tumor is inoperable and this offers a treatment option if my tumor grows. Presently, the Cyberknife neurosurgeon who has looked at my reports says not to do anything right now as my tumor is stable. But if there is any change, I am a great candidate for this treatment.

Please take the time to look at the following website links to see if this treatment is for you.

Cyberknife is available at

Georgetown University Hospital in Washington DC  -- 202-342-3300

Miriam Hart Medical Center in Boulder, CO -- 303-938-5353

Stanford, CA  -- 650-723-6329

Newport Beach, CA -- 949-588-5800

Univ. California San Francisco -- 415-353-8900

The Cyberknife is also available in Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and Dallas

Cyberknife is made by the Accuray company which has some very good info on their site as well.

With love and prayers,
Sandy

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