Radiosurgery Robot Does Less Collateral Damage
Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center recently acquired a CyberKnife radiosurgery system for about $3 million, making it the first hospital in Wisconsin equipped with this robot, and one of 40 in the US. Because the device is very precise it lets doctors target small tumors in soft tissue areas that need to take as little side damage as possible, such as lungs or the liver. The noninvasive system reduces risks that would be posed by surgery in some complex cases.
The Cyberknife moves around the patient who lies on a couch and sends several radiation beams on a tumor from many angles. It can significantly lower per-patient costs in some cases. The robot monitors the patient’s motions and breathing to adjust its moves or stop its beams, so it doesn’t require fixing the patients’ head in place or sedating them. However, it is slower than some other technologies and cannot treat large tumors.
The Business Journal of Milwaukee reports.