Positivity: Cancer survivors describe a medical miracle
From Georgetown, in DC, and points elsewhere:
Article Launched: 04/02/2008 01:51:41 AM PDT
Is a diagnosis of inoperable lung cancer a death sentence?
Oscar Reynolds, 80, would say no.
He’s among the cancer patients who are cancer-free following treatments by the CyberKnife at Georgetown University Hospital.
Georgetown was the second hospital to use the CyberKnife, a revolutionary tool that shoots radiation into tumors with laser-like accuracy, killing cancer cells. It was one of the stops on a Washington, D.C., tour arranged by the Association of Health Care Journalists.
The CyberKnife was invented by John Adler, a Stanford University professor of neurosurgery and radiation oncology. He founded Accuray, a company in Sunnyvale that got approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment in 2001.
The cost of the CyberKnife today? About $4 million.
According to Accuray, more than 40,000 patients have been treated by 126 CyberKnife systems in the Americas, Europe and Asia. The closest to Santa Cruz is at Stanford Hospital, which has treated more than 3,500 patients.
The Georgetown doctors say 87 percent of their patients have survived two years.
Initially, they purchased the CyberKnife to treat the brain, neck and spine, but Dr. Gregory Gagnon, who heads Georgetown’s CyberKnife program, said it’s now being used more for cancers of the lung, pancreas and prostate.
Seeing the treatment and hearing patients describe it was fascinating.
“You don’t feel a thing,” said Phyllis McDonald, 88, who had lung cancer. “By the third treatment, I went to sleep.”
Jenness Krywonos, 33, found Dr. Gagnon on the Internet after undergoing surgery for a tumor that put her in a wheelchair. She underwent the CyberKnife in 2004.
Seeing her today, sharing her story, it’s hard to imagine her being unable to walk.
Will the CyberKnife wipe out cancer for a lifetime? The technology is still too new to tell. …..
Go here for the rest of the story.
