One of the most chronic diseases in the world, Cancer is a class of diseases characterized by out-of-control cell growth. There are over 100 different types of cancer, and each is classified by the type of cell that is initially affected. While cancer is often thought to be a dangerous and malignant disease, its treatment has now been revolutionized by the latest version of a robotic radio surgery system.
This system not only helps in reducing the duration of treatment but the side effects associated with radiotherapy are also brought down. Installation of the Cyberknife Versatile Simple Intelligent (VSI) at the Medanta — The Medcity is one such initiation.
One of the members of the five-member core team formed for operating Cyberknife VSI, Dr Tejinder Kataria said while explaining the treatement: “The patient doesn’t need anaesthesia before the session. Nor does it have any side effects, associated with chemotherapy or exposure to radiation.”
Through the state-of-the-art technology, cancer can be cured within 30-40 minutes. The cyberknife treatment process delivers precise, high-dose radiation to tumors, minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissue. The technology was initially used to treat cancer in head and spine area while the latest version enables the treatment of cancer in any part of the body.
Katarina further explained that: “With Cyberknife, a person can be treated in one to five days, unlike radiation or chemotherapy which takes 40 days.”
The equipment costs Rs. 25 crore and it focuses precision beams on the affected area with the help of X-ray image guidance. The surrounding tissues do not get affected by this process.
In the month of July Cyberknife VSI was installed in Medanta. Kataria tells that Medanta is the first to have such technology and they have already treated three patients successfully which futher confirms the news. “We are the first medical facility to install the latest version and we have successfully treated three patients so far with Cyberknife VSI. Two are expected to be treated on Monday,” said Kataria. While a conventional treatment costs around Rs. 1.5 lakh, the latest technology treatment costs approximately Rs. 3 lakh.
Apollo hospital in Chennai and HCG Oncology hospital in Bangalore use the older versions of Cyberknife.