CyberKnife® Procedure

CyberKnife® is a noninvasive treatment option for patients with inoperable or surgically complex tumors. A tumor may be considered inoperable because it’s small, it’s a complex shape, it moves, and any combination of these. CyberKnife® changes all that, offering hope instead. With our CyberKnife® System, we can offer our tumor patients new treatment options that simply weren’t possible before. This advanced technology is used by the radiation oncologists and surgeons at SSM Health to treat malignant and benign tumors, as well as certain functional disorders.

How CyberKnife® Works

CyberKnife® delivers high-dose radiation to tumors with surgical accuracy in just five or fewer outpatient procedures. During the procedure, you will lie on a treatment table while the machine’s robotic arm moves around you. It directs the radiation to a tumor site from numerous angles with sub-millimeter precision. The pinpoint accuracy of this procedure minimizes radiation exposure to the healthy tissue surrounding your tumor and allows our physicians to treat difficult-to-reach areas in the head, neck and body without incisions or the use of sedation.

CyberKnife® Advantages

Radiation therapy, as a whole, has many proven advantages. With an ability to focus on specific areas, minimizing harm to others, it can be a viable option for you. CyberKnife®, as a specific form of radiation therapy, has a few additional advantages:

  • Treatment is complete in one to five outpatient procedures
  • Noninvasive, pain free and requires no anesthesia
  • Minimal side effects
  • Little to no recovery time
  • Immediate return to normal activities
  • Reaches most tumors from virtually unlimited directions with robotic mobility
  • Minimizes radiation exposure to healthy tissue surrounding a tumor site
  • Lesions previously treated with maximum allowed radiation doses may also be treated

Conditions Treated with CyberKnife®

Multiple types of tumors and cancer can be treated with CyberKnife® including:

SSM Health Cancer Care and SSM Health St. Clare Hospital - Fenton have one of only two CyberKnife® programs in the Greater St. Louis Metropolitan Area. If you’d like to learn more about CyberKnife® schedule an appointment with a radiation oncologist today.

Select Location

Enter your location to receive information about nearby SSM Health services.

Why do we ask?