The CyberKnife® facility at Winthrop offers patients with otherwise
untreatable or inaccessible tumors – both benign and malignant – new
hope. It adopts a noninvasive and scientific approach
to stereotactic radiosurgery. It takes the treatment
of central nervous system tumors and tumors of other
sites in the body to new levels. Winthrop’s program
has been spearheaded by the Divisions of Neurosurgery
and Radiation Oncology. Conventional stereotactic radiosurgery
was until now restricted to treating brain lesions
in a single session. With CyberKnife®this is no longer
the case.
CyberKnife®employs groundbreaking cruise missile guidance
technology to target and track tumors and lesions anywhere
in the body with computerized imageguided precision.
These views are provided
by several X-ray cameras configured with powerful computer
software. This continuously updates the target's position
during treatment. They feed the images to a the computer-controlled
robotic arm that carries an advanced linear accelerator
(radiation source) that delivers hundreds of radiation
beams to the designated site.
With the data received from the X-rays,
the robot is in constant motion. Computers monitor
the anatomy, check and recheck the patient's position
and compensate for the slightest movements by instantly
repositioning the linear accelerator so it can deliver
the radiation beams quickly and accurately. On its
own, each beam is relatively weak. However, when the
beams converge on the target, their power is precise;
so precise that physicians can destroy even deeply
imbedded tumors and lesions with complex shapes without
harming adjacent healthy tissue.
Achieving surgical-like outcomes, CyberKnife®can be an alternative to open surgery. Treatments are
performed as outpatients. Anesthesia is unnecessary.
There is no blood loss. The complication risk is lowered.
Dr Jeffrey A.
Brown is Director
of CyberKnife® Neurosurgery
at Winthrop University Hospital, Mineola, New York.
Neurological Surgery,
P.C. of Long Island, New York and New York
City (Queens) is one of the largest private
practices for neurological surgery in the
NYC and NY/NJ/CT Tri-State area, offering
patients the most advanced treatments of
brain and spine disorders, using minimally
invasive procedures like Gamma Knife, Cyber
Knife, Microdiscectomy, Spinal Stimulators, Kyphoplasty, X-Stop,
Carotid Stenting, Aneurysm Coiling and Interventional
Pain Management.
The CyberKnife® facility at Winthrop offers patients with otherwise
untreatable or inaccessible tumors – both benign and malignant – new
hope. It adopts a noninvasive and scientific approach
to stereotactic radiosurgery. It takes the treatment
of central nervous system tumors and tumors of other
sites in the body to new levels. Winthrop’s program
has been spearheaded by the Divisions of Neurosurgery
and Radiation Oncology. Conventional stereotactic radiosurgery
was until now restricted to treating brain lesions
in a single session. With CyberKnife®this is no longer
the case.