Traditional radiosurgery- or stereotactic radiosurgery- has been used to treat tumors in the head for more than 30 years. Stereotactic radiosurgery utilizes high doses of radiation precisely targeted at the site of the tumor and typically delivered in one treatment session. The treatment relies on a rigid metal frame that is fixed to a patient’s skull, immobilizing the head so that damage to the healthy tissue surrounding the tumor is minimized when the radiation is delivered.

In contrast to traditional stereotactic radiosurgery, robotic radiosurgery combines image guidance technology and computer controlled robotics, which enable the system to deliver high doses of radiation without a metal head frame while maintaining sub-millimeter accuracy. Because of this accuracy, other areas of the body become treatable with robotic radiosurgery, such as the spine, lung, prostate, liver and pancreas. Because it is non-invasive, treatments can be delivered in single or multiple fractions, at the patient’s convenience.

The CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System takes advantage of intelligent robotics to enable the effective treatment of tumors anywhere in the body. To date, an estimated over 40,000 patients have been treated with the CyberKnife System and currently more than 50 percent of all CyberKnife procedures in the United States are extracranial.