Radiosurgery Comparison - CyberKnife, Gamma Knife, Novalis, & Tomotherapy

Treatment Comparison

Differences Between the Common Radiosurgery Technologies
The most widely used radiosurgery devices include: cobalt-sourced systems (Gamma Knife), modified linear accelerators, and the CyberKnife®. All of these devices are capable of delivering the desired radiation dose to a designated target, however there can be important differences between these devices, which may have a significant impact on treatment clinical outcome.

CyberKnife®

Gamma Knife®

Other Linac Systems
(Elekta Synergy®, Novalis®, Varian Trilogy®, TomoTherapy®)

Radiosurgery Dedicated

Yes

Also Does “Conventional” Radiotherapy

Yes

Anatomic Area treatable with Radiosurgical Precision

Brain, Spine,
Entire Body

Brain

Brain +/- other selected sites depending upon specific system

Rigid Brain or Body Frame Required for Radiosurgical Accuracy

Yes

Lesion Size Limitation

Yes

Capable of divided treatments to better preserve adjacent tissues

Yes

Continuously adapts to lesion motion caused by organ movement (real time lesion tracking)

Yes

N/A

Continuously adapts to lesion motion caused by breathing (real time respiratory tracking)

Yes

N/A

Varian Trilogy® uses respiratory gating but does not track with radiosurgical precision – Other systems do not adapt to breathing

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