Question

What is the "Gamma Knife" and the "Cyber knife"?

Answer 1

Gamma knife:-

Gamma knife radiosurgery is usually a type of radiation therapy which is used to treat the tumors, the vascular malformations as well as other abnormalities present in the brain. Actually this Gamma knife radiosurgery is like other forms of stereotactic radiosurgery ( SRS) , is not surgery according to the traditional sense because no incision is there.

The Gamma knife mainly uses many beams of radiation from the multiple angles for targetting one particular area of the brain. Even alone each beam is usually too weak to damage any healthy tissue through which the beams travel. However, in this case the combined radiation is strong enough to treat the particular area.

Gamma knife radiosurgery has nearly 90% success rate in killing or shrinking brain tumors or stopping their growth. Even it doesn't require any anesthesia.It is generally less risky than any traditional neurosurgery.

Cyber knife:- Cyberknife is one of the most advanced forms of radiosurgery, the world's first robotic radiosurgery system, a radiation therapy device. This device is actually used to deliver radiosurgery for the treatment of tumors ( benign, malignant) & the other medical conditions.

This system uses the high energy X-ray machine on a robotic arm to deliver the radiation beams precisely which can destroy tumor cells & can stop the growth of tumors while avoiding damage to the healthy tissues.

In this case, 97-100% success rate can be shown for low-risk patient.

Some side-effects are commonly seen. Those are:-

• Fatigue
• Skin irritation or rash at the radiation delivery site.
• Nausea
• Body functions like Salivary function or urination may alter.

It is a non-invasive procedure & also it doesn't require painful immobilisation device. It is ideal for those people who are actually unable to undergo any surgical procedure or who want to reduce their risks. Brain cancer ( benign, malignant) , head & neck cancer, liver cancer , lung cancer can be treated by this radiosurgery system.

The main difference between Gamma knife & Cyber knife is :-

The gamma knife can target the only brain or cervical spine cancer with a single treatment of radiation with high dose but the the Cyber knife is able to treat cancer present anywhere on the body of an individual in one to five radiation treatment or therapy.