Miami Valley Hospital has said 18 percent of local cancer patients leave the area for treatment. More than 4,000 people in Montgomery and Greene counties are expected to be diagnosed with cancer in 2012.
First Dayton broke ground in August for an expansion of its facility at 2632 Woodman Center Court to house the technology. It anticipates treating 125 patients with CyberKnife in 2012, and 200 in 2013.
Unlike Gamma Knife, a noninvasive radiosurgery tool used primarily to treat brain tumors, CyberKnife also can be used to treat tumors of the lung, prostate, spine, liver, pancreas and kidney.
Dr. Edward Hughes, radiation oncologist and First Dayton’s owner, said the CyberKnife treatment takes one to five sessions. To receive the treatment, patients lie on a table while a robotic arm moves around them, aiming radiation beams directly at the tumor.
Hughes cited research in 2004 that concluded CyberKnife was effective in treating patients with early-stage lung cancer.
The treatment is 20 percent less expensive than intensity-modulated radiation therapy, which First Dayton also uses. Patients may resume normal daily activity immediately after treatment.
CyberKnife is available in Cleveland and Columbus.
Miami Valley Hospital South and Kettering Medical Center, part of competing health networks, earlier this year announced plans to develop comprehensive cancer centers.
“Certainly with a CyberKnife, we distinguish ourselves loud and clear,” Hughes said.
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