Inventor of CyberKnife Foresees Continued Growth in Extracranial Radiosurgery Market
A visionary in radiosurgery, John R. Adler, M.D. has played a critical role in the development of innovative and breakthrough means to treat cancer. A founder of Accuray and the developer of the CyberKnife System, Adler completed a fellowship with Lars Leksell in 1987, and then went on to Stanford University to begin work on the CyberKnife. Adler and his team set out to create a non-invasive robotic radiosurgery system with pinpoint accuracy and the capability to treat tumors anywhere in the body. While early usage of CyberKnife only treated tumors in the brain, rapid advances in technology allow it to now treat tumors in the spine, prostrate, liver, lung and pancreas. According to Adler, the future of extracranial radiosurgery is highly promising.
Why is the advancement of extracranial radiosurgery important?
Radiosurgery has a lower risk, lower cost and it’s far more convenient than radiotherapy. It requires five days of treatment instead of eight weeks with radiotherapy. If chances for survival are equal, the cost benefits and increased quality of life make radiosurgery an extremely desirable option. Everyone is afraid of open surgery. If I had early stage prostate cancer, radiosurgery is how I would want to be treated.
How is the market moving to extracranial? What’s the potential market look like today and moving forward?
We’re in the third inning, so to speak. However, we’re seeing tremendous growth outside of the brain and spine. In particular, there have been key developments in the treatment of lung and prostate cancer with radiosurgery. In the future, I see it replacing most operative early stage cancers, including prostate, lung, pancreas, and so on.
The early data on treating lung cancer with radiosurgery is certainly compelling. Moving forward, I know Accuray is planning a randomized trial comparing surgical versus radiosurgical ablation. The study will include 1,000 people over 20 sites – half will receive radiosurgery and the others will have surgery. It will take four to five years, and if done correctly, we’re confident it will put the argument to rest.
What are the barriers to getting there?
To make radiosurgery successful it’s imperative to build teams of physician to support the vision. It’s critical that we pull together different specialties – pulmonologists, medical oncologists and radiation oncologists – and make sure they are aligned. The success of radiosurgery is depends on whether or not multi-disciplinary teams can be assembled.
Why should hospitals and doctors be interested in SRS?
The hospital administrator likes that all these markets converge around one piece of technology. Doctors can treat the liver and the brain on the same day in the same operating room. With surgeons, the precision of the platform draws them in. Plus, the multi-disciplinary approach is appealing to many of those involved. It’s a little about technology, but the teamwork is every bit as important.