If you have been diagnosed with abdominal, liver, or kidney cancer, your first step should be to meet with cancer specialists to understand your treatment options. CyberKnife is an advanced cancer treatment that has been extremely successful in treating many forms of cancer. Although the name CyberKnife might sound like a surgical treatment, it’s actually a non-invasive radiation treatment for various cancer forms. Unlike other abdominal, liver, and kidney cancer treatment options, Epic Care CyberKnife uses radiosurgery that requires no anesthesia and no overnight hospital stay. Most patients experience few, if any, side effects, and they can go home right after their treatments.

What is Abdominal, Liver, and Kidney Cancer?

Abdominal cancer is diagnosed when abnormal cells grow uncontrollably anywhere between the groin and the chest, such as the stomach, liver, and kidneys.

Adenocarcinoma is the most common form of stomach cancer, accounting for up to 95% of cases. This cancer begins in the mucosa layer, which is the innermost lining of the stomach. Other forms of stomach cancer include lymphoma and gastrointestinal stromal tumors, which start in the stomach wall, or carcinoid tumors, which begin in the stomach cells.

Liver cancer is either a primary or secondary type of cancer, depending on where the cancer originated. Primary liver cancer starts in the liver and accounts for only 2% of liver cancers in the United States. Secondary liver cancer is when cancer starts somewhere else and spreads, or metastasizes, to the liver. The liver is an organ that filters all of the blood in the body, making the liver a target for cancer cells moving through the body.

The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs that sit in the lower abdomen, and they clean toxins and waste products from the blood. Kidney cancer starts in the kidneys and can develop into both small and large tumors. The most common kidney cancers are renal cell carcinoma, which forms in tiny tubules within the kidney.

What is Cyberknife Treatment?

The Cyberknife Treatment System is a non-surgical treatment that delivers an incredibly high radiation dose to the abdomen, liver, or kidneys with pinpoint accuracy. Cyberknife uses Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy or SBRT to ensure sub-millimeter accuracy to avoid harming healthy tissues and cells. Cyberknife is the only radiation therapy technology that automatically tracks tumor motion and adjusts the treatment beam as natural motion is detected. For successful cancer treatment, it is all about precision. This is why Cyberknife is so effective because of its ability to adjust for involuntary and unpredictable organ and tumor movement inside the body. This advanced cancer treatment offers patients a non-invasive alternative or supplement to surgery.

What You Can Expect at Our Walnut Creek Cancer Center

When you come to our radiation oncology center, this is what you can expect at Epic Care Cyberknife:

Consultation: First, all patients meet with one of our expert radiation oncologists to discuss your case and determine the most appropriate cancer treatment plan. If you have other cancer specialists you are working with, such as cancer surgeons, we will want to ensure they are informed about the consultation.

Pre-Treatment: For those with liver or kidney cancer, gold pellets or fiducials will be implanted to allow the tumor to be tracked during treatment. For most patients, three or four pellets are implanted about two weeks before the Cyberknife treatment.

Imaging & Dose Planning: About a week after the pellets have been implanted, your radiation oncologist will plan the exact SBRT treatment plan, including the dose and the number of doses that will be needed for your treatment.

Treatment: A week after the imaging and dose planning, treatment will begin. For most patients, Cyberknife advanced cancer treatment consists of four or five sessions over the course of one to two weeks. The treatment itself is non-invasive and does not require any anesthesia. The patient will lay on our Cyberknife treatment table while specific radiation doses are targeting the treatment area.

Schedule Your Consultation with Epic Care Cyberknife Today!

If you have recently been diagnosed with abdominal, liver, or kidney cancer, contact us for a consultation. Our radiation oncology experts understand how difficult a cancer diagnosis is, but we will be here to answer all of your questions. You can expect the highest quality care from a compassionate team at our Walnut Creek cancer center. We are committed to helping you beat cancer to continue living a happy and healthy life!