Not all radiation treatments are equal for patients with prostate cancer. While each is designed to kill cancer and prevent it from coming back, stereotactic body radiotherapy or stereotactic body radiation therapy, also known as SBRT, offers the fastest, most powerful and most highly-targeted form of radiation for prostate cancer.
The big difference between conventional radiation and SBRT is with traditional therapy, radiation is delivered to a patient in small doses over a period of several weeks. With SBRT, patients receive greater doses of radiation over a shorter time span.
Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy: The History
SBRT has been used for two decades. According to the National Library of Medicine, SBRT was created in the early 1990s in Stockholm, Sweden, at the Karolinska Institute and was first used for lung and liver cancers.
Simultaneously to its usage in Sweden, researchers in Japan, also began SBRT for lung cancer in the early 1990s. Doctors began using SBRT for prostate cancer in 2000.
Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy: Different Types
Today, radiation oncologists use different types of SBRT for prostate cancer. Those include: CyberKnife, Gamma Knife and Proton Beam Therapy,
CyberKnife uses a technology called image guided linear accelerator to deliver precision radiation by a robotic arm, according to Accuray, CyberKnife’s maker.
“CyberKnife accuracy is sub-millimetric, which can help significantly reduce the risk of the side effects that too often disrupt the lives of patients during and after treatment,” Accuray states.
Gamma Knife, according to the Mayo Clinic, uses 192 or 201 small beams of gamma radiation to treat cancerous tumors and other abnormalities in the brain with computer-guided technology.
Proton Beam Therapy uses protons – positively charged particles — instead of radiation to target a tumor, according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology. With high energy, the protons can kill cancer cells.
Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy: How it Works
Each of these SBRT treatments work similar by delivering precision radiation to a tumor without damaging surrounding healthy tissue.
In most cases, SBRT has fewer risks than traditional radiation or traditional surgery.
Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy: The CyberKnife Advantage for Prostate Cancer
But the experts at CyberKnife Center of Miami, which opened its doors in 2003 and is one of the most experienced stereotactic body radiotherapy centers in the world, believes CyberKnife has distinct advantages when compared to other forms of SBRT.
CyberKnife has been shown to have a 98% cure rate with prostate cancer.
Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy: CyberKnife in Action
During treatment, CyberKnife’s robotic system tracks tumors and follows the tumor should the patient move. It compensates for even the slightest movement from the patient – like with each breath – to accurately stay on target of tumor site without harming surrounding healthy tissue and nearby vital organs.
CyberKnife is non-invasive and relatively painless. There are generally few – if any – complications with treatments.
Since CyberKnife is so accurate, it delivers higher doses of radiation in fewer treatments than conventional radiation. With CyberKnife, most patients need one to five treatments over about a two-week period as opposed to 25 to 40 with conventional radiation.
Here are a few other benefits of cancer treatment with CyberKnife:
- Excellent control of tumors
- Lower risk of damage to healthy tissue
- Better quality of life while undergoing treatment
CyberKnife Treatment Miami Florida
The experts at Cyberknife Miami see the CyberKnife advantage for prostate cancer on a daily basis.
“CyberKnife has few side effects. Its pinpoint radiation beams hit only the tumor, dissolving it, so we can give a much higher dose with a lot fewer treatments, leaving healthy surrounding tissue unharmed. There’s over 20 years of published studies support,” says Dr. Mark Pomper, board-certified radiation oncologist and medical director of CyberKnife Miami.
The American Cancer Society reports one in nine men in the U.S. will face a prostate cancer diagnosis in his lifetime. It strikes older men and African American men more often. Six in 10 cases are diagnosed in men older than 65 with the average age of 66. It’s rare in men under 40.
If you are diagnosed with prostate cancer, you want the most experienced team on your side and that’s the team at CyberKnife Miami. For more information call CyberKnife Miami for an appointment at 305-279-2900 and go to our prostate cancer website now for more information.