Cyberknife Experience - Patient Profiles

Patient Profile: Mr. C.V.G

Mr. C.V.G is a senior gentleman aged 86 years with a sharp mind with shining eyes. He was diagnosed with cancer of the prostate in 1999. He underwent TURP plus Bilateral Orchidectomy and was on hormonal management. A second cancer was detected three years later. This time a much more aggressive tumour in the nasal area. Conventional radiotherapy was able to control the disease for a year. But the nasal tumour kept on coming back. Laser surgery could remove only part of the tumour so it kept on re-growing. Chemotherapy was not considered for him being above 80 at that time. By the end of 2008 patient was having a completely blocked nose with epistaxis and permanent discharge. He was unable to breath properly anymore. His eyes were not shining anymore. Another course of radiotherapy to this area with eyes in close vicinity did not come to the picture, and hence Cyberknife was the only treatment option. We completed the procedure April 2009. Few weeks later, Mr. CVG returned smiling and had an opened up nasal cavity and with no complaints. Even the radiation oncologists were surprised by the fact that this radiation has targeted the inside tumour almost exclusively. Though it was a second irradiation there was hardly any radio-reaction on the skin. He thinks of visiting his son in the US again …

Patient Profile: Mr. JT

A young man aged 17 years was diagnosed with Hypothalamic Hamartoma
This young man had a long history of Gelastic seizures. The cause for this was a large space-occupying lesion in the suprasellar region. He underwent surgery but the tumour could not be removed as it appeared very vascular and per-operatively there was a lot of bleeding.
The only option for him was stereotactic radiosurgery. The CyberKnife treatment was done for him over 5 sittings in one week. He did not experience any side effects either during
or after the treatment. In fact, he used to travel all the way from Kovalam daily for this treatment. It has been over 2 months following therapy, he is doing fine and his symptoms have reduced. Since this tumour responds slowly to radiation, a post treatment scan has been scheduled for one month from now.