Sinai Hospital of Baltimore is an Official Clinical Training Center for the CyberKnife� Stereotactic Radiosurgery System, according to its California-based manufacturer, Accuray. Of the 29 facilities worldwide that currently use the CyberKnife�, Sinai is one of only two training facilities. The other training center is Standford University Medical Center in California. As a training facility, the Sinai team is enabled to conduct clinical and technical training for clinicians and allied health professionals from around the world.
We chose Sinai as a Clinical Training Center because they have a dedicated, multidisciplinary team that has used CyberKnife� to successfully treat a variety of medical problems,� said Joan McLoughlin, director of Training, Accuray. They have discovered the key components necessary to incorporate CyberKnife� successfully into clinical practice.�
Sinai is the only Maryland hospital offering CyberKnife�, a groundbreaking and unique radiation therapy that uses cruise missile technology to accurately locate and destroy tumors. The CyberKnife� gives doctors the ability to treat cancers and benign tumors, some of which have been diagnosed as inoperable, and others where CyberKnife� is an alternative to conventional surgery, without making a single incision.
The CyberKnife� precisely locates the position of the tumor in the body and then uses a high-energy X-ray source mounted on a robotic arm to deliver highly focused
beams of radiation to the tumor. This highly targeted technique allows the maximum amount of radiation to be delivered to the tumor and kill it, while protecting surrounding healthy tissue from damage.
Other methods of stereotactic surgery, such as the Gamma Knife, can only treat tumors of the head and require that the patient lie completely still, held in place by a rigid frame that is bolted into the skull.
Since it began operations in April 2003, the CyberKnife� Center at Sinai has treated more than 200 patients. Its high precision and accuracy enable doctors to achieve surgery without the scalpel� outcome for lesions of the brain, spine, eye, lung, pancreas, liver, rectum, and pelvic tumors. Excellent results have been achieved in patients who have failed other treatments or who have been diagnosed as inoperable.
The CyberKnife� is one of many advanced treatment programs at the Alvin & Lois Lapidus Cancer Institute at Sinai. For more information on the CyberKnife� Program at Sinai Hospital, go to www.lifebridgehealth.org/cyberknife or call 410-601-WELL.
