Comparison with Other Treatments

Radiosurgery allows non-invasive treatment of benign and malignant tumors. It is also known as stereotactic radiotherapy, (SRT) when used to target lesions in the brain, and stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) when used to target lesions in the body. Below are common radiosurgery system used world-wide, however there are differences between systems which impact treatment technique.

 
  CyberKnife®
GammaKnife
Other Linac Systems

  
Yes
Yes
No

Area treatable with Radiosurgical Precision
Entire Body
Brain and Skull
Varies depending upon specific system



    Rigid Brain (Surgical Halo) or Body Frame Required
No
Yes
Yes

Lesion Size Limitation
No
Yes
No

Capable of preserving adjacent tissues by dividing treatments
Yes
No
Yes

Capable of tracking lesion in real time to follow motion caused by organ movement and breathing with radiosurgical precision 
Yes
N/A
No

Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) Dosimetry Method
Yes
No
Yes

Image-Guided Radiation Therapy  (IGRT)  Set-up Visualization
Yes
No
Yes

Capable of conformally and homogeneously treating a non-spherical target volume > 3.5cm
Yes
No
Yes

Capable of fractionated (multi-session) radiosurgery to better preserve critical adjacent tissue
Yes
No
Yes

Continuously adapts to lesion motion caused by breathing (real time respiratory tracking) 
Yes
N/A
Respiratory gating but does not track with radiosurgical precision

Capable of real-time sub-millimeter translational and rotational beam adaptation to target volume motion
Yes
N/A
No

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 