KU Hospital Performs First CyberKnife Treatment
CyberKnife Treatment. Kenyatta University Teaching Referral and Research Hospital (KUTRRH) has undertook the first CyberKnife radiotherapy services.
On Wednesday KUTRRH announced that the first patient successfully underwent the procedure following the launch of the CyberKnife System. The new development a fully robotic radiotherapy device for cancer treatment.
KUTRRH chairperson Prof Olive Mugenda said the journey to acquire the CyberKnife started last year as part of the Level Six facility’s corporate vision to create a Centre of Excellence in oncology.
This is a bold and best decision for Kenya in the effort to decrease outbound medical tourism and increase inbound medical tourism.
CyberKnife Treatment is a radiation therapy advancement offering precise and effective treatment options for a wide range of medical conditions, especially cancer. It minimizes the side effects associated with treatment and improves the overall patient experience.
The process has taken five months after it was launched by President William Ruto.
According to the KUTRRH, the new strides makes Kenya the first country in sub-Sahara Africa to acquire the CyberKnife.
Now the local patients will obtain access to the extremely precise stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT).
“Commissioning of CyberKnife Treatment has been a tedious and delicate process. It was jointly undertaken by medical physicists from Accuray, the equipment manufacturer, and its Medical Physicists, Doctors, Radiotherapists, and Oncologists”, the facility reported.
Wednesday’s CyberKnife treatment was conducted by Abdil Jabbari, Ruth Wambui Peter Loreh and Tracy Irura.
Jabbari is an application specialist and medical physicist from Accurray USA while Wambui is a radiation Therapist and the KUTRRH CyberKnife Centre Manager with many years of experience with CyberKnife operations in the UK.
Peter Loreh is a medical physicist and Radiotherapy Head of Department at KUTRRH and Tracy Irura is a trained Radiation Oncologist at KUTRRH and the lead oncologist in Cyber Knife.
Patients to undergo the CyberKnife system treatment regimen are carefully selected to ensure that they meet the specified criteria by the experts.
Unlike traditional surgery, CyberKnife is a non-invasive treatment option as it does not require incisions or anesthesia, which leads to quicker recovery times and fewer complications for patients.
CyberKnife treatment is recommended for various conditions, including cancerous and non-cancerous tumours.
CyberKnife is commonly used to treat cancerous tumours, including prostate cancer, lung cancer, brain tumours, spine tumours, and liver cancer, among others.
It is also used in the treatment of non-cancerous conditions, including Trigeminal Neuralgia.
The cost of treatment ranges between Sh300,000 and Sh350,000.
