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What Patients Can Expect with CyberKnife Treatment

During the actual treatment, patients recline
comfortably on the padded CyberKnife bed.

CyberKnife^® is an outpatient procedure that must be scheduled in advance. Stamford Hospital’s CyberKnife Center is open Monday – Friday, 8am – 4pm. Patients can expect to make at least two visits to our treatment center. At each visit, our goal is to help them feel comfortable, cared for, and well prepared for the procedure.

Prior to treatment, patients with a brain tumor or lesion will be fitted for a custom-molded face mesh, which is used to restrict movement during the treatment session or sessions. This comfortable face mesh is molded to the face in a process that is both quick and painless. When spinal tumors are treated, instead of the mask a foam body cradle is custom-fit for the individual patient. At this visit, patients will undergo a CT scan and/or an MRI for treatment planning, to ensure the equipment is set and ready prior to the patient’s arrival.

Those being treated for a tumor in a location other than in the head may require placement of fiducial markers to localize the treatment area. Fiducials are markers, implanted prior to the CyberKnife treatment, that serve to precisely identify the location of a tumor or other target.

Treatment planning takes place after the consultation and before the patient’s actual treatment. This is when doctors and our medical physicist will plan the details of radiation delivery. Where this process once relied exclusively upon a physician’s prior experience and intuition, CyberKnife utilizes computers to develop an optimal pattern of radiation. During the CyberKnife treatment planning process, once the physician and physicist have determined the best volume and radiation dose, the computer performs calculations to identify the best delivery plan. The plan employs the robot's high degree of maneuverability for the most even delivery of radiation throughout the tumor, far better than what could be achieved by older, frame-based radiosurgical systems.

The Synchrony® System tracks,
detects and corrects for tumor and patient
movement throughout treatment, resulting
in minimal damage to surrounding tissue.

For treatment, patients will be asked to arrive 15 minutes before their procedure. The actual procedure treatment time will vary depending on the location of the tumor.

Our highly skilled clinicians work together to deliver treatments using the CyberKnife system. The treatment team may include a surgeon or neurosurgeon, radiation oncologist, medical physicist, radiation therapist and registered nurse. Typically the entire team is present and participates in the treatment.

During the actual treatment, patients recline comfortably on a padded bed on the CyberKnife table (wearing the face mesh, if necessary). To help patients relax, the area is decorated with images of the nighttime sky and patients will be able to bring or choose their own music to listen to. The tumor location is verified with the CyberKnife image-guided system, which compares it to previously stored data, positioning the robotic arm to deliver the radiation in collimated beams. If tumor movement is detected, the robotic arm is repositioned within a fraction of a second – patients may hear clicking or mechanical noises as these adjustments are made. The verification process will be repeated prior to delivery of each radiation beam. When the procedure is completed, patients are free to get up and go home and most feel no after-effects of the treatment whatsoever. Most patients require between one and five treatments.

For more information regarding the CyberKnife, or to make an appointment for a consultation, call the CyberKnife Center at Stamford Hospital at 203-276-2500.