New Treatment Option at The Sarah Cannon Cancer Center Provides Hope for Inopera...( NASHVILLE Tenn. June 12 /- The Sarah ...),Health

NASHVILLE, Tenn., June 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The Sarah Cannon Cancer Center (SCCC) at Centennial Medical Center last week began treating patients with a new non-invasive weapon in the battle against cancer. The Sarah Cannon Cancer Center is the first and only cancer center in Middle Tennessee to offer image-guided robotic stereotactic radiosurgery.

"The Sarah Cannon Cancer Center is proud to continue delivering on its promise to provide the highest quality, most advanced cancer treatment options in our region with the addition of the CyberKnife(R) stereotactic radiosurgery system," said Rocky Billups, administrator for The Sarah Cannon Cancer Center Network. "With this new image-guided robotic technology, we are giving new hope to those whose tumors were previously thought to be inoperable and untreatable."

According to Billups, The Sarah Cannon Cancer Center now has the ability to treat tumors anywhere in the body, even the brain, spine, lung, liver, pancreas and prostate, with such accuracy that there is little or no damage to surrounding tissue.

The new robotic radiosurgery technology is so sophisticated that it adjusts with every breath patients take. The robotic system tracks the tumor's position, detects any movement of the tumor or the patient, and automatically corrects radiation delivery. It then targets the tumor with multiple pin-point beams of high-energy radiation, destroying abnormal tissue.

"If you've ever seen a snake charmer keep a cobra focused on his hand, you have an idea of what the robotic arm looks like during treatment," said James Gray, M.D., a radiation oncologist at The Sarah Cannon Cancer Center trained in the technology. "This remarkable tracking system even detects abrupt chest motion, such as a cough or sneeze, shutting off the beam until the respiratory cycle resumes its normal motion and the tumor can be confidently tracked again. This heightened accuracy and t
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