Cyberknife

[david280662]

I've come across the Cyberknife system while researching treatment options - is this just another form of radiotherapy? What are the results like?

[professoreden]

Hi, David. Cyberknife is a type of very tightly-focused radiotherapy that is still being evaluated for prostate cancer as there is some evidence that it might increase the incidence of urinary side-effects such as urethritis, urinary incontinence, and urinary obstruction compared to conventional radiotherapy (44% versus 36% at 6 months following treatment). The theory is very appealing (less collateral damage because of more accurately targeted radiotherapy) but patients with more aggressive tumours might actually benefit from having a larger volume of tissue treated. For instance, the risk of having microscopic spread of prostate cancer in the pelvic lymph nodes in a man with a Gleason 7 tumour is 7% so having his pelvic lymph nodes (on either side of the prostate) treated with radiotherapy as well as his prostate is likely to benefit him.