High precision robotic Arc-Knife for cancer treatment
Cancer treatment is never predictable or easy. Tumors often grow in the most inconvenient places, costs can skyrocket quickly, and doctors are regularly forced to use one-size-fits-all technology. Tired of both the health and financial expense of traditional treatment, Dr. K.S. Clifford Chao, Chair of Radiation Oncology at Columbia University’s Medical Center, wondered if there was a simpler, more affordable and effective technology that could be used instead.
“Today’s cancer treatment technology is like a Swiss Army knife, packed with tools and techniques that most patients don’t actually need,” says Dr. Chao. “If you just want to cut a piece of cake, for example, all you need is a knife. Why pay for the rest of the tools?”
Armed with nearly 30 years of experience in oncology care, Dr. Chao developed a high precision robotic image-guided therapy system, called Arc-Knife that can map the exact location of a tumor and accurately direct radiation toward malignant cells while avoiding healthy tissue. The system is more precision and safer than previous radiation machines – a plus for both patients and health care providers.
The Arc-Knife technology is ideal in fighting cancers like those of the brain, lung, or breast, which comprise nearly 40 percent of all cancer patients that employ radiation. Traditional radiation therapy use high-energy x rays, 100 times as powerful as the kind used in medical diagnostic situations, like imaging your teeth or bones. While these penetrating rays are useful in treating deep tumors, like prostrate cancer, hospitals must build bunker-like rooms to entrap the radiation – a time consuming and costly endeavor. All in all, buying and installing traditional radiation equipment can cost tens of millions of dollars.
Dr. Chao’s Arc-Knife machine, on the other hand, is so small that it has a built-in shield, meaning it can be used in medical office space and cost much less. It is also possible to image the tumor on the same day as treatment, unlike traditional systems, which enables doctors to target the most up to date tumor growth, not days-old information.
“From the treatment end, the imaging capability ensures that the patient will be treated accurately,” says Dr. Chao,” but from the hospital end, it will also save a lot of money in view of facility construction and equipment installation. It is a win-win situation.”
Dr. Chao also serves as the Chair of Radiation Oncology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical College. He came to New York from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.