Saint Francis Cancer Institute Granted Certificate of Need for CyberKnife System

Saint Francis Medical Center’s Cancer Institute announced today it received approval from the Missouri Health Facilities Review Committee to acquire the CyberKnife^® Robotic Radiosurgery System. This will be the only system of its type in the area and will broaden the treatment options available to patients with tumors.

The CyberKnife system will offer patients an alternative to surgery for the treatment of both cancerous and noncancerous tumors. This noninvasive system delivers beams of high dose radiation with great accuracy and is able to treat tumors anywhere in the body, including the prostate, lung, brain, spine, liver, pancreas and kidney. Patients will be able to receive fewer doses of radiation over a shorter period of time compared to conventional radiation therapy.

“This state-of-the-art technology will offer our patients greater convenience and care. We are proud to be the first to offer the system in the area,” says Steven C. Bjelich, FACHE-D, President and Chief Executive Officer at Saint Francis. “At Saint Francis we are committed to using the most powerful resources available for cancer treatment.”

The CyberKnife system will be located in the new Heart Hospital and Cancer Institute, opening in July of this year. With the addition of the CyberKnife system, Saint Francis will have everything to treat its cancer patients all under one roof. The new facility will relocate the Medical Center’s existing services into one convenient location and will also include P.E.T/CT scanner, a conventional linear accelerator with intensity modulated radiation therapy and a conventional linear accelerator with image-guided radiation therapy.

“With the addition of this system, patients who might not otherwise have a treatment option will,” says Tapan Roy, MD, FACR, radiation oncologist at Saint Francis. “This includes patients who might have been too weak to tolerate surgery, patients whose cancer could not be removed without doing serious damage to surrounding tissue or those patients for whom conventional radiation therapy was not an option due to the cancer’s recurrence or proximity to critical tissue.”

In addition to Saint Francis’ complete range of cutting-edge cancer services, the Medical Center works with the nation’s cancer care leader. The exclusive local affiliation with MD Anderson Physicians Network^® allows access to treatment guidelines developed by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center – a world-renowned provider. Saint Francis is one of only a few medical centers in the nation and the only one in the region selected to be an MD Anderson Physicians Network affiliate hospital.

To learn more about the CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System or Saint Francis’ Cancer Institute, call 573-334-2230.