CyberKnife – a new treatment that minimises the risks of radiotherapy

Robert Ferrant was one of the first in Britain to undergo the procedure at The Harley Street Clinic.

I’d never any problems with my health. But while on holiday in the U.S. in 2008 I developed a peculiar sensation in my gut that kept me awake at night.

It wasn’t painful, and to begin with I thought I’d eaten something funny, but when I totally lost my appetite, I knew something was wrong.

Back home, I had blood tests and a camera put down my throat to look into my stomach, but they came back clear. By this time, my weight had dropped from 16 to 12 stone.

My GP sent me for a CT scan. I didn’t suspect anything sinister but two days later I was told I had pancreatic cancer. The tumour was inoperable, because it was so large and wrapped around a major artery. It was a terrible time for all the family.

An initial course of chemotherapy shrunk the tumour by 30 per cent. Doctors then put me on an aggressive chemotherapy and radiotherapy regimen to further shrink the tumour. But this time the results weren’t spectacular, and the regimen made me feel very sick and ill.

I had heard about CyberKnife and was keen to try it. No one knows whether CyberKnife will extend your life by months, a year, or longer but my doctor said he hoped it would destroy 80 per cent of my tumour.

I had gold ‘markers’ inserted in my pancreas and liver under local anaesthetic. These were to help the robot ’see’ and target the tumour with great accuracy.

The treatment itself was carried out on three consecutive days, in July last year.

The machine has a robotic arm that moves around your body. Radiographers put you in the right position depending on the location of the tumour – then you must not move or cough.

The robot hovers around you as it lines up to deliver the beams of radiation – in my case, 309 times. Each session took about two hours and was totally painless – with no after- effects either.