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Cyber Knife Treatment / Procedure - New Options Bring New Hope
Life has improved tremendously for this Freehold man since he encountered Riverview's CyberKnife® system — a revolutionary treatment technology that has made the inoperable operable.
"Your tumor is inoperable." These are words nobody ever wants to hear. Today, thanks to the groundbreaking CyberKnife® system now available to area residents at Riverview Medical Center, many people won't have to. That's because CyberKnife is steadily making previously inoperable conditions operable. And for one patient in particular, Steven Brodman of Freehold, this treatment option has provided new hope, a new prognosis, and a new outlook on life.
A Life-Changing Discovery
In October 2005, Steven attended Riverview Medical Center's CyberKnife open house to "do a little research" on the advice of a friend who knew he'd been battling tumors since 2003.
Steven first learned he had a malignant melanoma in February of that year, when he had a mole removed. Over the next several years, the tumors would spread to his lymph nodes, liver, lungs, abdomen, and brain. Because of this chronic disease, Steven spent the past three years undergoing treatments — some of them very painful and some with long delivery or recovery periods.
But once Steven found CyberKnife, all that changed. No more lengthy treatments. No more pain. No more hospital stays.
Brighter Days Ahead
When a tumor in Steven's brain developed last August, the CyberKnife Center had not yet opened at Riverview. So Steven researched his options at the time and decided upon Gamma Knife® treatment. However, "it was really uncomfortable," Steven reports. "They had to inject an anesthetic in my forehead, and I had to take Valium before they could screw the halo in to keep my head in place. And when the treatment was over, I had to have someone drive me home and then face days of severe headaches."
When Steven developed a tumor in his lung shortly thereafter, Gamma Knife treatment, limited to treating brain tumors only, wasn't even an option. The CyberKnife system, on the contrary, can treat tumors in organ sites throughout the body, including the spine, lungs, liver, pancreas, and prostate. Because it's robotic and there is no stereotactic frame involved (nothing rigidly fixated to the head), it has opened unprecedented doors for many patients like Steven who have been diagnosed with conditions deemed "inoperable" in the past.
Doctors Deliver Promising News
Needless to say, Steven was very interested in any possible alternative treatments. "I met with Drs. Kaufman and Rosenblum after the open house to ask them about CyberKnife as an option for treating my lung tumor. They told me that it would be a few months before they'd be able to treat tumors outside the brain."
So Steven sought other treatment for his lung tumor and optimistically kept CyberKnife in mind for any future problems. He kept the Meridian physicians he'd met in mind too: "I was so impressed with the doctors. Dr. Kaufman even gave me his personal pager number, which really exceeded my expectations. I would never expect a physician to do that at just a consultation."
Unfortunately for Steven, he would need that number sooner than he'd hoped. Following his Gamma Knife treatment, he developed another brain tumor, this one on the opposite side. He called Dr. Kaufman right away.
A World of Difference
After his first CyberKnife procedure, Steven emerged a very pleased patient. "The CyberKnife experience was so completely different than my Gamma Knife treatment," he says. "There was no halo and no shots — nothing had to be screwed into my head. It was such a remarkable experience. I had the procedure done at 7:30 a.m. and felt so good afterward that I was able to drive myself home and resume my routine."
A very hopeful Steven continues: "With the help of the people at Riverview Medical Center, I am confident that I can stay ahead of this chronic illness. I know there's a possibility that tumors will continue to manifest in other parts of my body. But now I'm optimistic that if other treatments don't work, CyberKnife is an option." This point came to pass recently when the tumor that had been treated with the Gamma Knife began to grow again; in response, Steven underwent another CyberKnife treatment. "I actually look forward to my treatment now, because it's relaxing to lie on the bed and listen to music," he says.
No one understands the advantages of this thoroughly advanced treatment better than the doctors who apply it. "CyberKnife is so sophisticated that it allows for patients' breathing patterns and readjusts its path based on imaging and software," explains Nathan Kaufman, M.D., medical director of Riverview's CyberKnife Center. "That's why we're able to deliver unparalleled precision in so many tumor sites. We're offering new options to patients with brain, spine, lung, liver, prostate, and pancreatic tumors that other hospitals in the area cannot."
Bruce Rosenblum, M.D., surgical director of the CyberKnife Center, extrapolates: "The CyberKnife robotic radiosurgery suite is truly the operating room of the future. It allows me to non-invasively treat lesions of the brain and spine without cutting, anesthesia, bleeding, pain, or recovery time. Using finely honed beams of radiation which converge on a target from up to 1,200 points in space, I can ablate benign and malignant tumors and vascular malformations of the brain and spine and eradicate painful intracranial nerves. It has dramatically changed the way I practice neurosurgery."
For patients like Steven Brodman, knowing this treatment is available is greatly comforting. Knowing they can find it nearby is incredible. "I would go anywhere in the world for this treatment, but I don't have to," claims Steven. "I feel so fortunate to have this treatment offered right in my own backyard."
 – Tria Deibert
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