Global leader in the radiosurgery field, Accuray Inc. announced Friday that its CyberKnife radiosurgery has been used in treatment of over 12,000 courses of lung cancer. The rate continues to climb, demonstrated by a 25 percent increase in 2009.

CyberKnife offers lung cancer patients a non-invasive treatment to be completed in completed in five or fewer visits, and is both painless and non-surgical. The CyberKnife System uses continual image guidance along with continual correction for respiratory motion, allowing it to deliver high-doses of radiation to the tumor from hundreds of angles with pinpoint precision.

Judith, a lung cancer survivor, shares her experience having been treated with both conventional lung cancer treatments and CyberKnife radiosurgery:

Diagnosed with stage IIIa lung cancer in the winter of 2004, Judith received 12 rounds chemotherapy, 23 days of radiation therapy and surgery two weeks later to remove the upper lobe of her right lung. Recovery from her treatment was difficult, involving a 15-day hospital stay and four weeks of recovery at home. Later, some residual cancer was discovered leading her to undergo eight more rounds of chemotherapy. Three years later, in the summer of 2007, doctors found a recurrence of her cancer in a lymph node located deep in the center of Judith’s chest. This time, her thoracic surgeon suggested CyberKnife radiosurgery. Because of its extreme precision, the CyberKnife System is able to focus the radiation delivery on the tumor and avoid surrounding healthy tissue, meaning Judith was a candidate despite having previous radiation. Judith’s CyberKnife treatment was completed in four outpatient sessions; she was able to resume her daily activities after each treatment and got back to work right away. Nearly three years later Judith is doing well and has had no recurrences.

“The first time round, it was an eight month period of my life spent at the cancer center, so the second time, when I had the option to do four treatments over two weeks and be done, it was a no brainer,” said Judith. “With the CyberKnife there was no downtime and I didn’t experience any side effects. During the treatments I just lay comfortably on the treatment table and was able to watch the animal channel on a TV in the ceiling. It was a piece of cake compared to what I had been through already.”

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