CyberKnife Offers Treatment Advancements for Prostate Cancer

Each September at the LifeBridge Health Alvin & Lois Lapidus Cancer Institute, we honor those who have survived prostate cancer and reach out in support of those currently struggling with the disease.

However, National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month is more than wearing blue. It’s a call to action for men seeking prostate cancer treatment to take control of their diagnosis and educate themselves on the range of options available to treat the disease.

What you need to know about prostate cancer:

• One in six men will face a prostate cancer diagnosis in his lifetime, totaling to 240,000 new cases this year alone as estimated by the American Cancer Society.
• Fortunately, advancements in cancer treatment have allowed nearly eight times as many men to count themselves as survivors.
• Prostate cancer is the single most diagnosed cancer in men.

Treatment for prostate cancer can include surgery, external beam radiation therapy, brachytherapy or stereotactic body radiation therapy.

Of the current prostate cancer treatment options, stereotactic body radiation therapy is a newer procedure and is performed with highly advanced technology. CyberKnife is a robotic radiosurgery system that delivers a unique form of stereotactic body radiation therapy. It tracks the motion of the prostate during treatment and automatically corrects the aim of the radiation beam when movement is detected. This means radiation exposure to surrounding healthy tissue is minimized.

In recent years, CyberKnife has gained awareness among prostate cancer patients. George Frick, a former prostate cancer patient at Sinai Hospital’s CyberKnife Center, was drawn to the convenience of shorter treatment and fewer side effects. His treatments were completed within five sessions, versus about 40 treatments typically required with conventional radiation therapy. Read more about his story here.

“CyberKnife offers prostate cancer patients a noninvasive treatment option that doesn’t impede on their lifestyle,” said Jeanette Linder, M.D., chief of the Weinman Family Department of Radiation Oncology at Sinai Hospital. “It gives patients the benefit of a more rapid recovery, allowing them to return to their normal routines following each procedure.”

For more information about the Weinman Family Department of Radiation Oncology within the Alvin & Lois Lapidus Cancer Institute at LifeBridge Health, visit http://www.lifebridgehealth.org/Main/AlvinLoisLapidusCancerInstitute1.aspx.

-Betsy Haley

To schedule an appointment with one of our highly trained physicians and find out why LifeBridge Health is Baltimore's premiere health care organization, call 410-601-WELL.

About Betsy Haley

Betsy Haley is the Communications and Social Media Manager with LifeBridge Health. She enjoys spending time with family, outdoor activities and trying out new restaurants.

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