HealthFirst-Cyber knife surgery

UNDATED (WJRT) (WJRT) -- (06/22/07)-- The report cards are out and Michigan gets a C- from The National Prostate Cancer Coalition.

HealthFirst reporter Leslie LoBue says the grade is based on early detection, mortality, accessibility to care and support for prostate cancer legislation.

Leslie LoBue is here with more on this- and, coincidently to tell us about a new Cancer "super weapon" that has just arrived in Michigan.

Michigan's grade this year is actually a drop from last year's C+ grade for prostate cancer.

The NPCC gives the state high marks for screening, but gives a final grade of C- because of what it calls a lack of support by Michigan's federal and state lawmakers for critical prostate cancer legislation.

Meanwhile, Saint Joseph Mercy Health System is,  by it's own accounts,  taking Michigan above the curve in the battle against prostate and several other cancers.

The hospital is pioneering the use of the cyber knife robotic radiosurgery system.  This non-invasive tool is said to treat cancer anywhere in the body, including previously inoperable tumors.

"It really will revolutionize how we will be able to care for patients. It's going to be able to help us deliver treatment that we weren't able to do before," said Doctor Walter Sahijdak, a radiation oncologist at the hospital.

The cyber knife uses computer-controlled technology to deliver radiation to areas that tend to shift during treatments when patients breathe: areas like the lung, prostate, pancreas, liver and kidney.

"It's a way to target tumors and protect the surrounding normal tissues, so we can minimize side-effects and can deliver much more effective therapy than what we were able to do with some patients in the past," Sahijdak said.

St. Joseph Mercy in Ann Arbor is the first in the state to offer this technology, and they started using it on patients this month.

 

 

 

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