Radiation Effectiveness: A Look at The Precision of Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy

Columbus CyberKnife treats a variety of malignant and benign tumors with a specialized form of radiation therapy called stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT).

SBRT is performed with CyberKnife® technology, an advanced radiosurgery system that noninvasively delivers radiation beams directly to tumors with sub-millimeter precision. This results in minimal damage to surrounding healthy tissue and may reduce side effects.

The pinpoint accuracy of SBRT relies on the advanced components of the CyberKnife system, which feature a device that controls the width of the radiation beams delivered during treatment. This allows our clinical experts to vary the beam size and treat a larger variety of tumors throughout the body.

When compared to conventional radiation methods, SBRT can offer many advantages. SBRT delivers more than 100 radiation beams from many angles compared to the 2-7 beams administered with conventional radiation therapy, allowing doctors to administer higher doses of radiation within 1-5 millimeters of the tissue margin. Also, SBRT requires no more than five treatment sessions, whereas conventional radiation therapy can require up to 40 treatments.

To learn more about how SBRT compares to other treatment methods, you can view a treatment comparison chart here.

This is not intended as medical advice to replace the expertise and judgment of your health care team. It is intended to help you and your family make informed decisions, together with your doctor.