HCG, South Asia’s Largest Cancer Care Network, brings a robotic radiosurgery revolution - CyberKnife

HCG, South Asia’s Largest Cancer Care Network, brings a robotic radiosurgery revolution - CyberKnife - to India, to get rid of all cancers faster, easier...

Eminent Scientist & India's ex-President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam launches Cyberknife today 5.30pm IST at Bangalore - see it live at www.cyberknifeindia.com

How Cyberknife is cutting Cancer at HCG

Cyberknife is a frameless robotic radio surgery system. It is a non-invasive alternative to surgery for the treatment of both cancerous and non-cancerous tumours anywhere in the body, including the prostate, lung, brain, spine, liver, pancreas and kidney. The treatment which delivers beams of high dose radiation to tumours with extreme accuracy will now offers new hope to patients, stated Dr B S Ajai Kumar, chairman, HCG.

The two main elements of the Cyber Knife are the radiation produced from the small linear particle accelerator and robotic arm which allows the energy to be directed at any part of the body from any direction. The system is used to treat benign and malignant tumours.

A visible trend according to Dr Kumar is that increasing number of early stage breast cancer patients flocking to its facility which is a clear indication of the high level of awareness on diagnosis and treatment. Other challenging cancers handled by the facility include oseophagus small cell carcinoma among others.

HealthCare Global Enterprises Ltd, (HCG) a leading comprehensive cancer care centre in South Asia, has invested about Rs 40 crore (about USD 9m) for advanced equipment at Bangalore.

To begin with, it has made a Rs 30 crore investment for a Cyberknife which is already commissioned. This makes it the first facility in the country to install the advanced radio guided surgery system. The second is a Rs 10 crore investment in 'Artise' which is an advanced Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) system.

Cyberknife - a boon for Cancer Patients

CyberKnife, a robotic system to perform radiosurgery may have been known to the rest of the world since a long time, but not to India. Found in 1990 by John Adler, it is nearly two decades later now that India will get to see the CyberKnife. The city of Bangalore has achieved the feat of acquiring the country’s first CyberKnife, thanks to Health Care Global, Asia’s largest chain of cancer care units. Prior to the acquisition, people suffering from cancer had to make their way to the United States.

The highlight of the CyberKnife is of course the way it detects cancerous tumors. Be it in the liver, pancreas, brain, prostrate or the lungs, the computerized CyberKnife tells the robot the best way to get a tumor out. Apart from being painless, CyberKnife operations are also known to be bloodless.

“Before HCG came forward to buy the equipment, treatment with CyberKnife was considered a very expensive affair. In fact, the CyberKnife itself is very expensive, priced at around 40 crores. Prior to this, individuals accessing CyberKnife treatment would need to spend no less than 20 lakhs. Now that HCG has got it’s own CyberKnife patients will be able to get treatment done within 5-10 lakhs, depending on the extent of the disease”, said Prakash P, Marketing, CyberKnife