Roper St. Francis Gets Nod To Acquire CyberKnife
First and Only in S.C. To Offer Advanced Treatment for Inoperable Cancers

Roper St. Francis Healthcare has announced that it is one of only 50 medical centers in the United States and the first and only in South Carolina to receive state approval to install CyberKnife, the most advanced radiation treatment available, which translates into new hope for cancer patients with inoperable tumors.

CyberKnife is a noninvasive, stereotactic radiosurgery system that treats patients with complex or difficult cancers of the brain, spine, lung, liver, prostate and pancreas. It is currently being used by select medical centers, including Stanford, Baylor and Georgetown universities. Worldwide, there are only 75 CyberKnife systems in operation.

A $1.5 million project to construct a vault that will house the system begins right away, according to hospital officials. This is part of a 5-year joint venture with CyberKnife manufacturer Accuray.

First patients will be seen in Spring 2007 and it’s expected that during its first year of operation, 120 patients from across the state will be treated. Previously, these patients would have had no treatment alternative or would have to travel to the nearest CyberKnife located in Ashville, NC, or elsewhere in the country.

“CyberKnife will enable us to offer surgical quality outcomes with a noninvasive procedure that uses intelligent robotics to treat tumors with extreme accuracy anywhere in the body,” said Mary Decker, MD, Medical Director for Radiation Oncology with Roper St. Francis Healthcare and a board-certified radiation oncologist. “This brings new hope to patients with some of the most difficult to treat cancers.”

Dr. Decker stressed that CyberKnife will not replace surgery for cancer patients who are physically able and who have operable tumors. “For many of those patients, surgery will continue to be the best course of treatment.”

One of the major benefits to patients, Dr. Decker continued, is that the CyberKnife procedure requires as little as one treatment in one day but no more than five treatments in five days compared to traditional radiation, which requires that patients undergo treatments over six to seven weeks. Each CyberKnife treatment lasts approximately 90 minutes from start to finish. In addition, patients experience fewer side effects and no recovery time, which would be required with open surgery.

“CyberKnife represents a different level in stereotactic radiosurgery, which was previously limited to the brain,” explained Curtis Worthington, MD, Medical Director for the Roper St. Francis Stereotactic Radiosurgery program and a board-certified neurosurgeon. “It’s also a major step forward in treating spine cancer.”

Dr. Worthington, who has practiced neurosurgery in Charleston for some 20 years, has had extensive experience in stereotactic surgery having developed a system in the early 1990s with Joseph Jenrette, MD, at the Medical University of South Carolina and having served as Medical Director at the Gamma Knife Center of the Carolinas since 1998.

The CyberKnife system treats patients by delivering multiple beams of precisely directed radiation that converge upon the tumor while minimizing injury to surrounding healthy tissue. Image guidance and computer controlled robotics combine to continuously track, detect and correct for tumor and patient movement due to respiration throughout the treatment.

The system is equipped with the Synchrony Respiratory Tracking System, a unique, patented tool designed to treat tumors in the lung and other parts of the anatomy that move with respiration. Synchrony literally synchronizes the CyberKnife System’s linear accelerator to the motion of the tumor, automatically adjusting and compensating for patient and tumor movements in real time while delivering radiation. This advancement allows for significantly shorter treatment times compared to breath-holding and enables treatment of tumors throughout the body.

Roper St. Francis Cancer Center was recently awarded the prestigious, 3-year Accreditation with Commendation by the American College of Surgeon’s Commission on Cancer. This honor is bestowed on only the finest programs in the country with just 25 percent of hospitals in receipt. An even smaller number of those achieve Commendation.

On September 28, a detailed session on CyberKnife will be among topics presented at the Roper St. Francis Cancer Expo at the North Charleston Convention Center. Dr. Decker and Dr. Worthington will lead the session and participate in a question/answer period with those attending.

In October, Roper St. Francis will open a new Breast Care Center, to include digital mammography, at Roper Hospital’s downtown campus, according to Elaine Kloos, Service Line Director for Oncology Services. Other upcoming plans include a redesign to consolidate Cancer Center services at Roper Hospital and a groundbreaking for a new outpatient cancer center at Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital’s West Ashley campus.

For more information about CyberKnife or to register for the Cancer Expo, please call 843-402-CARE (2273).