Cancer-Zapping Precision Radiation Beams Could Soon Target Other Diseases

Radiosurgery allows for non-invasive treatment of tumors. Advancements in robotics and image guidance systems in recent years have made radiosurgery effective not only for treating brain tumors, but other diseases “virtually anywhere in the body.” Major radiosurgery equipment includes CyberKnife.

This medical procedure works by shooting beams of high-intensity radiation (energetic particles) at targeted tumors. This beam ionizes the atoms in DNA and renders a treated cell unable to reproduce along with destroying its structural integrity.

A major component of radiosurgery is accuracy, as the beam can severely damage healthy tissues also. Accuray, creator of CyberKnife, has developed a tracking system to help CyberKnife “maintain accurate targeting of soft-tissue tumors that shift position during respiration,” making this procedure applicable to tumors located in more difficult places to treat, such as the lungs. Other applications of CyberKnife include treatment of atrial fibrillation, Parkinson’s, epilepsy, and psychiatric disorders. One especially unique treatment using CyberKnife involved treating a woman with trigeminal neuralgia, in which radiation was focused on the trigeminal nerve in order to relieve chronic facial pain.

I find this article quite interesting because I am a RHE major, and one of the key fields in this engineering distinction is design/use of medical equipment that employs radiation. I think it’s incredible that they now have developed the technology to produce a beam that moves in rhythm with a person’s breathing in order to maintain a high degree of accuracy. My favorite quote from this article is how patients often say after the procedure “Are you sure I got treated?”

Source:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=stereotactic-cancer-fighting-improvements
Article by Larry Greenmeier - August 26, 2010

Lainy Dromgoole, VTPP 434-501