“This is a question I am often asked. As a representative of Accuray who makes two incredible systems that treat cancer in remarkably unique ways, why does it seem as if you prefer one system over the other?”
Bill Vogel/Clinical Sales Director at Accuray which manufactures CyberKnife
Well, the short answer to that question is, I really do not. However, it was my experience as a Radiation Therapist that led me to Accuray, and that experience was with the CyberKnife system; CyberKnife system number three to be exact.
As a Therapist, I had the opportunity to work on many different systems and was fortunate enough to be hand-picked to work on what was more of a research project at the time that started by treating palliative spine cases with a single fraction of Radiosurgery.
The program expanded vastly from this initial endeavor, but it was in those early days (over 25 years ago) that I treated cases that, in my opinion, could only be described as miracles.
One case I would like to highlight was an exceptionally large man who at the time was wheelchair bound and had a lesion that was wrapped completely around his spinal cord and encompassed two vertebral bodies.
He was in extreme pain and lost the function of his legs and was told by a Radiation Oncologist that there was not much else that could be done at this point other than attempt to control the pain with medication.
As we spoke, he told me he was taking everything from ibuprofen to oxycontin, along with several other let us say “unprescribed” medications and it helped a little but impacted his quality of life being drugged up every waking hour of the day.
This was the typical story I ran into in those early days but recall this man specifically as I dislocated my shoulder while lifting his massive frame onto the treatment couch. As a side note, anyone who has pulled their shoulder out of the socket will be able to relate, since I was alone in the room with a patient, I didn’t have much choice but to find a wall and pop my arm back into place which may have been the most excruciating part.
His treatment went on without incident and fortunately help had arrived when it was time to put him back in his chair, and other than having an interesting story to tell, the occasion was uneventful.
Two and a half weeks later I was walking down a long hospital hallway on my way to chat with a friend from CT when, at the other end of the hallway I noticed a rather large man standing there. Normally he would not have caught my eye, but the way he was slowly pacing from one side to the other made me think he may have been lost, so I wanted to see if I could help.
As I got closer, to my amazement, I realized it was my patient from a couple of weeks ago.
The first thing that went through my head was that his follow up was not scheduled for at least another ten days, so why was he here? Did he have other issues that needed to be addressed, but even more was the elation that he was standing.
As I approached him his face lit up as he finally recognized someone to whom he could speak. He told me he came in early because he wanted to let someone know his pain was gone. He felt he no longer needed to be taking drugs and had at least stopped self-medicating with the “unprescribed” ones. After two and a half weeks his pain was completely gone, and he was walking again.
So, back to the original question. No, I am not biased towards one of our incredible treatment delivery systems, but I do wear my heart on my sleeve. As a result, when I begin to speak of the CyberKnife system a little smile begins to form as I think back about this patient and the countless others that were able extend their time and improve their quality of life after being told they were out of options.