Treatment Options > Radiation / Radiosurgery
cyberknife vs gammaknife?
hollo321:
--- Quote from: ANviolist on August 16, 2023, 11:50:58 pm ---Hi, I’m a musician too and had Cyberknife last October. With Cyberknife they could fractionate the treatment over 3 days, which they theorize helps preserve the remaining hearing. I retested after 6 months and so far so good, my hearing is unchanged from before treatment. One good factor for me was there was a space between the tumor and my cochlea, so they could avoid zapping the cochlea. Dr. Chang said the auditory nerve itself is pretty rugged.
--- End quote ---
great news you still have your hearing :) im sure u were happy to be able to still perform/do what you love without a handicap, which is what im afraid of. If 3 zaps is safer think thats what ill try to get,
thanks
hollo321:
--- Quote from: DanFouratt on August 17, 2023, 12:30:56 pm ---Just ended a phone call with the Dean of Radio oncology and asked him the difference.
Both Cyber knife and Gamma Knife use the same basic technology and radiation. They differ in the manufacturer of the machine, the method of securing your head in place and how the source of radiation moves. CK uses a mask and GK uses a head set to secure the head in place. The CK radiation source (in the arm arm) moves to hit you from different angles and GK has multiple radiation sources to hit you from different angles. They both are capable of delivering each one and done and well as three three and done.
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thats interesting to learn they pretty much the same. Gamma so far what read and heard only do one treatment which not sure why they dont do more usually, as also what i heard from some is that splitting it over 3 rather than one can be safer and perhaps less risk of hearing loss. not sure, still trying to learn about this,
thanks
hollo321:
--- Quote from: hollo321 on August 18, 2023, 06:12:38 am ---
--- Quote from: DanFouratt on August 17, 2023, 12:30:56 pm ---Just ended a phone call with the Dean of Radio oncology and asked him the difference.
Both Cyber knife and Gamma Knife use the same basic technology and radiation. They differ in the manufacturer of the machine, the method of securing your head in place and how the source of radiation moves. CK uses a mask and GK uses a head set to secure the head in place. The CK radiation source (in the arm arm) moves to hit you from different angles and GK has multiple radiation sources to hit you from different angles. They both are capable of delivering each one and done and well as three three and done.
--- End quote ---
thats interesting to learn they pretty much the same. Gamma so far what read and heard only do one treatment which not sure why they dont do more usually, as also what i heard from some is that splitting it over 3 rather than one can be safer and perhaps less risk of hearing loss. And also some say gamma is more precise. not sure, still trying to learn about this,
thanks
--- End quote ---
richcooks:
I had fractionated sterotactic radiation... in 2010. My AN was discovered in 2003 as 1mm. Tiny tiny tiny. It grew 1mm a year and 2010 I too had to decide which treatment to do. Oddly enough my brother discovered he had a AN at the same time as me. I live on the Jersey shore. Lots of Medical facilities to choose from. I visited UPenn and others and did a lot of research. The one thing that kept coming back to me was that you have a better chance to preserve hearing with Fractionated vs The Gamma Knife. Reason being Gamma Knife is one big dose of radiation that results in collateral damage to health tissue. Fractionated are smaller doses given over a period of time. Any exposure to healthy tissue is at a lower dose and the tissue has time to recover before the next treatment. I had to go five consecutive days for my treatment that lasted a total of 45 minutes each which included the prepping etc.. Here I am 13
years later with no issues other than the tinitus and some (not a lot) loss of hearing in my right ear. My brother lives in Rochester NY and he chose Gamma Knife. Lost his hearing in his affected ear. What I learned was that you need to search out the doctor who does the procedure you want. The expert at UPenn only did Gamma Knife. After meeting with him and based on all the research I did I decided that I wanted Fractionated. One of my questions to all of these guys was, " Does my Tumor make a good target for you to engage?"
hollo321:
--- Quote from: richcooks on August 19, 2023, 09:54:08 am ---I had fractionated sterotactic radiation... in 2010. My AN was discovered in 2003 as 1mm. Tiny tiny tiny. It grew 1mm a year and 2010 I too had to decide which treatment to do. Oddly enough my brother discovered he had a AN at the same time as me. I live on the Jersey shore. Lots of Medical facilities to choose from. I visited UPenn and others and did a lot of research. The one thing that kept coming back to me was that you have a better chance to preserve hearing with Fractionated vs The Gamma Knife. Reason being Gamma Knife is one big dose of radiation that results in collateral damage to health tissue. Fractionated are smaller doses given over a period of time. Any exposure to healthy tissue is at a lower dose and the tissue has time to recover before the next treatment. I had to go five consecutive days for my treatment that lasted a total of 45 minutes each which included the prepping etc.. Here I am 13
years later with no issues other than the tinitus and some (not a lot) loss of hearing in my right ear. My brother lives in Rochester NY and he chose Gamma Knife. Lost his hearing in his affected ear. What I learned was that you need to search out the doctor who does the procedure you want. The expert at UPenn only did Gamma Knife. After meeting with him and based on all the research I did I decided that I wanted Fractionated. One of my questions to all of these guys was, " Does my Tumor make a good target for you to engage?"
--- End quote ---
thats good u still got ur hearing. not sure fractionated 5 treatment is something thats commonly done now adays as mostly from what i read so far is either gamma knife or 3 treatments on cyber. did you do that with a cyberknife machine or something else? The only neurosurgeon i saw so far said gamma knife or surgery and waiting to see another doc soon. Did your brother already have bad hearing loss before and loose his hearing completely right away after the gamma knife? or did he loose it slowly over many years post treatment?
thanks
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