Brain Cancer - Our Treatment Options

Phoenix Brain Cancer Treatment Options

The Phoenix CyberKnife & Radiation Oncology Center offers one of the most effective treatment options in the Phoenix area. The CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System is clinically proven to effectively treat brain cancer by beaming high doses of radiation directly to the cancerous cells while minimizing harm to surrounding tissue. This is especially important because of the many everyday functions performed by the brain that could be negatively affected if that healthy tissue is damaged.

CyberKnife employs a flexible robotic arm, exceptional software, and instantaneous imaging system to beam high doses of radiation to the exact location of your tumor and kill cancerous cells. The CyberKnife’s arm can move around your body, attacking even your most elusive tumor from a limitless number of angles. The constant imaging and software tracks tumors, adjusting for even the slightest movement. The short daily treatments last from only one to five days, as opposed to the 24 - 45 days that traditional radiation treatments often last. And, the non-invasive treatment requires no surgery, no anesthesia, no hospital stay, and little or no side effects. You’ll usually be back to your normal activities in only a few hours

Brain Tumors Treatments

Your brain is the most fragile organ in the human body and that makes treating brain tumors a complicated and precarious challenge. The expert radiation oncologists at Phoenix CyberKnife will work with your team of caregivers including your neurosurgeon, medical physicist, and other support staff to complete the best plan of action for your CyberKnife treatment.

These experts will create your treatment plan based on several factors, including:

• The brain tumor size
• What type of tumor you have (primary versus secondary brain tumors)
• Where the tumor is located inside your brain and if it is pressing on nearby tissue that may affect everyday functions.
• How aggressive your tumor is, based on the assigned grade give by your doctor
• The potential side effects from various treatments
• You current health condition and how likely you can withstand different treatments
• Your personal preferences
• What your quality of life would be like during and after treatment

Doctors can treat brain cancer using several different treatment methods, depending your medical team’s analysis:

• Active Surveillance (watching the tumor to see how/if it grows)
• Surgery (removing the tumor through surgical incision in the skull)
• Chemotherapy (using a combination of drugs, given intravenously, to stop cancer cell growth)
• Targeted therapy (using drugs that stop cancer from growing by targeting specific genes or proteins)
• Radiation therapy (using high-energy waves such as x-rays, gamma rays or electron beams to kill or damage cancerous cells)

There are also other types of therapy that are being developed and tested such as proton beam radiation therapy and biologic therapy.

Phoenix CyberKnife Treatment For Brain Cancer

It doesn’t matter whether brain tumors are malignant (cancerous) or benign (non-cancerous), they can still cause life-threatening symptoms if they grow and affect the brain’s ability to perform tasks like moving, eating, and breathing.

Whether the tumors are benign or malignant, brain cancer poses a serious threat because the tumors can affect the brain’s ability to perform everyday bodily functions such as moving, eating, and breathing. Oftentimes, doctors recommend surgery to remove the mass and thereby relieving any pressure on those important brain parts. But CyberKnife treatments can be effectively used instead of surgery for brain cancer patients:

• That have tumors growing in hard-to-reach places within the brain or infiltrating around important tissues making it dangerous to attempt removal.
• Who are too weak or ill to undergo the rigors of surgery.
• Who simply do not want to take the risks or the time it takes to properly recover from surgery.
• Who have had surgery, but now require radiation to help ensure the cancer does not return.
• Whose cancer has returned at any time, sometimes in conjunction with chemotherapy and clinical trials.

Other radiation treatments such as Gamma Knife, require that your head be placed in a rigid metal frame which is then bolted to the treatment table. In contrast, the CyberKnife only requires that you be fitted with mesh mask, which is placed over your head as you lie on a comfortable treatment couch. CyberKnife is able to avoid movement-restricting apparatus because of the way its robotic arm and sophisticated imaging and software insure precise accuracy as it tracks the exact location of your tumor. It even adjusts its radiation beams as you breathe. By treating only the cancerous cells and limiting exposure to healthy tissue, CyberKnife will leave most patients with few side effects and the ability to return to your normal activities in only a few hours.

The Phoenix CyberKnife Treatment Plan

1. Your Phoenix CyberKnife radiation oncologist will work with you and your medical team to evaluate your specific cancer and prescribe the best cancer treatment plan.
2. You will be fitted with a flexible mesh mask that will help keep your head in place during all of your treatments.
3. Your doctors will walk you through a CT simulation with your mask on to capture the exact shape, size and location of your brain tumor. They may order additional scans, if needed, so that they can have a crystal clear picture of your situation.
4. These images will be uploaded to the CyberKnife software so that doctors can utilize them to help decide on your radiation dose and locations as well as note the most important tissues that need to be excluded from the harmful radiation beams. This information is programmed into the CyberKnife system.
5. Once the doctors finish your treatment plan and discuss it with you and any family members, you will return to our convenient Phoenix outpatient treatment center for your first treatment. You may dress comfortably and even bring your favorite music to listen to.
6. Once you are relaxed on the treatment couch, the mesh mask will be placed over your face. The pain-free CyberKnife treatment will begin as the flexible robotic arm moves around you sending the prescribed doses of radiation to the exact tumor location. During the entire process, the imaging system sends pictures of your tumor to the software and the robotic arm adjusts itself to ensure that only the cancerous cells receive the high dose radiation.
7. After each short treatment, most patients can resume their normal activity within a few hours.
8. If your team has planned for more than one treatment, you will be asked to return the next day for another short treatment. CyberKnife is administered in short treatments each day from one to five days.
9. After your treatment, you will return for follow-up visits with your doctor. Using CT or PET scans, he or she will monitor the tumor to ensure the cancer does not reoccur.

Why Choose Phoenix CyberKnife For Brain Cancer?

• No surgery. The CyberKnife treatment avoids the potential risks of surgery including cutting into the brain and use of anesthesia. Plus there’s no recovery time and no overnight stay in the hospital.
• Exceptional Reach. With the flexible robotic arm, your Phoenix radiation oncologist can reach your tumor from almost any angle, directing high doses of radiation to kill cancerous cells while minimizing the exposure to the vital healthy brain tissue surrounding the tumor.
• Extreme Comfort. CyberKnife treatment for brain cancer is more comfortable that alternative radiation therapies like Gamma Knife. There’s no head frame bolted to a table. Instead, you lie comfortably under a lightweight mesh mask. CyberKnife’s real-time imaging tracks your tumor instantaneously without the restrictive apparatus.
• Precise Tracking. Using a combination of your initial CT, MRI or PET scan images, your advance CT simulation scans, and your real-time tumor location at time of treatment, the CyberKnife software and imaging systems ensure radiation is directed in optimum doses to the precise location of your tumor, following even its slightest movements and attacking and killing the cancerous cells.
• Reduced Treatment Time. You’ll receive only one short treatment session each day for one to five days, versus one treatment per day for up to 45 days with traditional radiation.
• Pinpoint Accuracy. CyberKnife’s is so exact when targeting only your cancerous cell, that the damage to healthy brain tissue is minimized. This reduces side effects compared to other treatments. Most of our patients can continue with regular daily activity, even on days of their treatment.

Don’t Wait To Call Phoenix CyberKnife!

This treatment is so effective for treating brain cancer, you must take time to contact Phoenix CyberKnife and find out more about it. You can trust our board certified radiation oncologists to answer all of your questions until you are completely comfortable with the CyberKnife treatment process. Call us at (602) 441.3845 today for a free phone consultation. We’ll show you how this non-invasive, pain-free treatment process can help you fight brain cancer and deliver the best possible outcomes. Or, ask your questions or make an appointment using our convenient online message form. We are here for you.

Find out more about brain cancer:

• Brain Cancer - About Brain Cancer
• Brain Cancer - Types & Grades