In Summary

• The treatment is an outpatient procedure and does not require hospitalization and recovery is often immediate.

•Unlike traditional surgery, there is no excision and the treatment is often delivered in a single session.

President William Ruto will on Monday officially commission the latest equipment in the treatment of cancer known as CyberKnife.

The equipment at the Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital (KUTRRH) was to be commissioned on December 15 last year but was delayed due to the complexity of the installation process. 

The installation process had been estimated to take 60 days as advised by the manufacturer since the arrival of the machine on October 7, 2022. 

So what is cyberknife equipment?

CyberKnife S7 is equipment that delivers painless non-invasive treatment that delivers a high dose of precise targeted robotic radiation therapy to cancerous and non-cancerous tumors.

The treatment is painless and requires an average of 3-5 sessions with minimal risk of complications or damage to tissues.

The treatment is an outpatient procedure and does not require hospitalization and recovery is often immediate.

The cutting-edge treatment has a fully integrated planning system which enables the user to perform image fusion, dose and treatment efficiency optimization, dose calculation, and plan evaluation.

According to KUTRRH, some of the benefits of cyberknife treatment in Kenya include; 

  • Non-invasive (no surgery or anaesthesia); thus, painless and has a shorter treatment time.
  • Able to reach areas of the body previously thought untreatable. Thus, it can treat a variety of tumours and cancers such as head and neck cancer, brain tumours, breast, lung, spinal, pancreas, liver, and prostate cancers.
  • Almost immediate recovery
  • Movement of the tumour during treatment caused by coughing, breathing, swallowing etc., does not alter precision since the machine automatically adjusts the radiation beams accordingly.
  • Precision treatment limits damage to healthy tissue; hence very few side effects

"Upon installation, the Cyberknife’s stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) system will enable clinicians at KUTRRH to confidently deliver precise, highly effective radiation treatments," KUTRRH states on its website. 

The CyberKnife system yields faster treatment times with improved patient experiences.

KUTRRH states that the cyberknife has a robotic precision enabling high-definition radiotherapy anywhere in the body with the widest range of motion in the industry, Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven real-time target tracking with dynamic delivery for continuous monitoring of the patient and the tumor.

It is globally acclaimed as the best treatment for brain tumours, lung cancer, prostate cancer, meningiomas and vascular malfunctions, among others.

"Further, the system boasts unprecedented versatility in no-surgical treatment applications such as the delivery of highly precise, highly individualized non-surgical treatments for a wide range of conditions including neurological disorders," doctors say.

To access the CyberKnife treatment, the patient will be referred to a CyberKnife center by their doctor detailing the problem and their need for the treatment.

KUTRRH specialists will look at the report and evaluate the patients condition to determine the medical necessity for the use of CyberKnife.

Once, the decision is made, the patient will be booked for the procedure. Patients with NHIF cover are fully covered for the treatment. by LUCY MUMBI, The Star