
Accuray, Inc. Cyberknife
Technology & Innovations
Emerging Technology: The Cyberknife & Radiosurgery
by Steve S. Ryan, PhD
A new ablation technology, radiosurgery, used initially in the field of oncology (on cancerous tumors), is minimally invasive, and provides accurate placement of beam energy that is guided by imaging.
This technology may have inherent advantages over catheter energy delivery, which relies on perfect tissue contact for placement of continuous lesions.
Using 3-D treatment planning software and technology, the energy delivery is highly focused so as to minimize any possible long term radiation effect on other organs nearby. Radiosurgery can reliably control and predict lesion size for an individual patient’s anatomy.
Radiosurgery application for treatment of arrhythmia is in pre-clinical studies. Radiosurgery technologies and enabling software have been developed by Accuray Inc. (Cyberknife), CyberHeart Inc. and CardioPlan.
Editor’s Comments:
The concept of this non to minimally invasive energy delivery is intriguing. Though there are many obstacles and a possibly huge learning curve to applying Radiosurgery to the treatment of A-Fib, the potential is incredible! Imagine a completely non-invasive procedure to replace catheter ablation and surgery! We wish CyberHeart the best and will continue to follow their progress.
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Last updated: Sunday, February 15, 2015