CyberKnife Makes S.C. Debut at Roper St. Francis
Advanced Treatment Gives New Hope to Cancer Patients

Roper St. Francis Healthcare today unveiled its CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System, a state-of-the-art treatment that gives new hope to patients with cancer and their loved ones. Roper St. Francis is the first in South Carolina and one of only 76 medical centers worldwide to offer CyberKnife.

CyberKnife, which is housed in the Radiation Oncology Department at Roper Hospital’s downtown campus, is a noninvasive robotic radiosurgery system that treats cancer anywhere in the body including the brain, spine, lung, liver, prostate and pancreas. Radiosurgery is a medical procedure that allows noninvasive surgery by means of directed beams of ionizing radiation. Intelligent robotics allow CyberKnife to continually track tumor position, detect any tumor or patient movement and automatically correct the treatment delivery – without the need to manually reposition the patient or interrupt the treatment.

Last month, a team of Roper St. Francis physicians, including Neurosurgeon Curtis Worthington, MD, Radiation Oncologist Mary Decker, MD, and Cardiothoracic Surgeon David Peterseim, MD, traveled to Baltimore to train at Sinai Hospital, one of the first medical centers in the U.S. to use CyberKnife. Locally, patients are currently being evaluated with the first to begin treatment on January 16. During the coming year, more than 100 patients from across the state are expected to benefit.

“The CyberKnife System offers an alternative to conventional open surgery and is capable of treating tumors anywhere in the body with pin-point accuracy minimizing impact to surrounding healthy tissue and nearby critical structures, such as the spinal cord or the optic nerve,” explained Dr. Worthington, who is Medical Director for the Roper St. Francis Stereotactic Radiosurgery program of which CyberKnife is a part.

One of the major benefits to patients is that CyberKnife treatment may be completed in one procedure in one day but no more than five procedures in five days compared to traditional radiation, which requires that patients undergo treatments over six to seven weeks, according to Dr. Decker, Medical Director for Radiation Oncology with Roper St. Francis Healthcare. Each CyberKnife treatment lasts approximately 90 minutes from start to finish.
Dr. Decker stressed that CyberKnife will not replace traditional surgery for cancer patients who have operable tumors and are physically able to withstand a surgical procedure. “For many of those patients, surgery will continue to be the best course of treatment.”

At Roper Hospital, CyberKnife is housed in a specially designed and constructed full-lead vault, the only one of its kind for stereotactic surgery in the U.S. Materials required to build the vault include:

·        .   1 million pounds of lead
·        .   18,000-pound door
·        .   4-foot concrete floor

Special consideration was also given to the design of the vault’s interior, according to Scott Broome, Director of Oncology Services for Roper St. Francis Healthcare. “We wanted to create a welcoming atmosphere where patients would feel comfortable and at ease. A Lowcountry mural provides a beautiful visual backdrop for patients, while overhead light panels featuring blue skies and palm trees simulate the effect of a sky light,” Broome said.

For more information about CyberKnife, please call 843-402-CARE (2273).