Cancer recurrence, or relapse, is the return of cancer after treatment and after a period of time during which the cancer cannot be detected. The same cancer can come back where it first started or somewhere else in the body. The odds of a cancer recurring depend on the type of cancer and its extent within the body at the time of treatment.
Recurrence of cancer is often emotionally deflating for patients and their loved ones who have endured treatment and hope of recovery only to face the same issues again.
Far too often, patients treated with traditional radiation require additional treatment. Radiotherapy with CyberKnife can manage and reduce future cancer recurrences. Learn more about CyberKnife, request an appointment online.
The accuracy CyberKnife provides allows clinicians to deliver high doses of radiation more safely than traditional radiation therapy — and more efficiently than other radiotherapy treatments—because the small size of the radiation field and it’s ability to avoid giving critical parts of the body around the recurrent tumor any significant amount of additional treatment.
Anova Cancer Care’s CyberKnife radiotherapy treatment may be an appropriate therapy option for recurrent cancers
Prostate cancer recurrence
Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels usually drop to a stable and low level after radiation therapy. If PSA levels begin to rise after treatment, a local recurrence (tissue next to the prostate or in the seminal vesicles) or distant recurrence (lymph nodes outside the pelvis area) may occur, requiring additional testing. For more information on prostate cancer, click here. CyberKnife can precisely target the recurring cancer tumors less invasively and with minimal side effects.
CyberKnife for patients undergoing other treatments
When confronting cancer, patients may undergo a combination of treatment options in their road toward recovery.
CyberKnife is safe and effective for patients who have either gone through previous types of treatment or are currently undergoing other cancer treatments. These include:
• Chemotherapy patients
• Radiation patients
• Immunotherapy patients
• Proton Therapy patients.
It is important that these patients provide their CyberKnife physician with a complete medical history, so he or she can prescribe the appropriate treatment course. When deciding on the best treatment (or combination of treatments), doctors should discuss individual patient needs, health and how different cancers may respond.