Treatment Comparison

Differences Between 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 Yes No
Also Does “Conventional” Radiotherapy
No No 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
No Yes Yes
Lesion Size Limitation
No Yes No
Capable of divided treatments to better preserve adjacent tissues
Yes No Yes
Continuously adapts to lesion motion caused by organ movement (real time lesion tracking)
Yes N/A No
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
Radiotherapy Comparison
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