Summary
1. Medicare now covers Cyberknife radiosurgery treatment for prostate cancer in most parts of the United States.
2. The Cyberknife has specific advantages over conventional surgery and conventional radiotherapy/IMRT for prostate cancer.
3. Early clinical results on the use of Cyberknife radiosurgery for prostate cancer have been very favorable, with high rates of tumor control and minimal side effects.
Analysis
Throughout most of the United States, Medicare will now cover Cyberknife (manufactured by Accuray, Inc.) radiosurgery for the treatment of prostate cancer. This now provides yet another treatment option for patients with prostate cancer, along with surgery, brachytherapy, and conventional radiotherapy/IMRT. The advantage that the Cybekrnife has over surgery is that it is non-invasive, requires no hospitalization, and does not require any recover period. The advantage that the Cyberknife has over conventional radiotherapy/IMRT is that treatment can typically be delivered in 3 to 5 days, as compared to 6 weeks of daily radiation treatment for conventional radiotherapy/IMRT. Furthermore, the accuracy of the Cyberknife system is superior to that of conventional radiotherapy/IMRT, with the radiation beams from the Cyberknife being delivered with errors of 1 mm or less.
Early publications regarding Cyberknife for prostate cancer have been favorable, with very high tumor control rates and minimal complications, especially when compared to conventional radiotherapy/IMRT. Such data has made the treatment of prostate cancer one of the fastest growing applications for the use of Cyberknife radiosurgery.
This author consults with leading institutions through GLG
Analyses are solely the work of the authors and have not been edited or endorsed by GLG.
