The newest technology in cancer treatment is now available in Michigan. It's called the CyberKnife Robotic Surgery System and it targets cancer tumors with pinpoint accuracy. Dr. Walt Sahijdak with St. Joseph's hospital in Ann Arbor is the first Michigan oncologist to use the CyberKnife, "It can come in from all directions around somebody and be able to target one area." The robotic radio surgery system is customized to each patient's needs Dr. Sahijdak says it can adapt to any changes that may happen in the body during a procedure, "It can track the tumor, it can detect any motion in the tumor and it can correct for that motion." Each procedure lasts between 30-minutes and two hours depending on a patients needs. And Dr. Sahijdak says there is an added benefit to being able to pinpoint a tumor, "You can protect the healthy tissue and deliver a higher dose and a higher dose is a more affective dose to the tumor." The CyberKnife has been found to be particularly successful in patients with lung cancer, "Treating early lung cancer can give you a 98% or better success rate." Elizabeth Newhouse was diagnosed with brain and lung cancer in November he will be the first patient in Michigan to be treated with the CyberKnife here at St. Joseph's hospital in Ann Arbor, "I hope that it just blasts those tumors right out of there and they don't come back. Cause two of them are growing so I think this is my only option." After going through standard radiation treatment Elizabeth hopes the CyberKnife will not only reduce her tumors but help her get back to enjoying her life again, "It's my understanding that after the treatment I can just go home and resume my daily activities." The CyberKnife is performed on an outpatient basis and often fewer than five treatments are needed to treat even in-operable tumors. Right now the CyberKnife Robotic Surgery System is only available at St. Joseph's hospital in Ann Arbor.
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