Cyberknife delivers less radiation in bigger bites over fewer sessions. For example; my IMRT delivered 70 gy. of radiation over 33 sessions (2.12 gy. per session) whereas my Cyberknife treatment was 50 gy. over 5 sessions (10 gy. per session).
Interestingly, the Dr. sitting next to Dr. Lee is Dr. Jatin Shaw who was the doctor I saw at Sloan. Dr. Shaw was the last Dr. I saw during my tour of second opinions after the IMRT treatments at U of M failed in getting all the cancer from my recurrence.
Dr. Shaw recommended I get the Cyberknife treatment at UPMC. I must assume that he felt since the surgical solution was off the table and I had already received two sessions of IMRT at 70 gy. each, the cyberknife would exposes me to the least amount of additional radiation.
Kelly Male 48, SCC (Soft Palet) Rt., Stage 1, T3n0m0, Dx, 8-09, Start IMRT 35 9-2-09 end 10-21-09 04-20-10 NED 8-11 recurrence, node rt. neck N2b 10-11 33 IMRT w/chemo wkly 3-12-12 PET - residual cancer 4-12 5 treatments with Cyberknife & Erbitux 6-19-12 Pet scan CLEAR 12-3-12 PET - CLEAR
