Stanford Medicine held a commemoration event on August 25, 2022, celebrating the new CyberKnife S7 at the Neuroscience Health Center. The addition of the S7 brings more seamless care to patients, with office visits, imaging, and procedures under one roof. 

Speakers at the ribbon-cutting ceremony included Stanford Health Care leaders Alison Kerr and Sri Seshadri, and Stanford emeritus professor John Adler, MD, inventor of the CyberKnife. Other speakers included: Quynh Le, MD; Michael Lim, MD; Steven Chang, MD; and Scott Soltys, MD.

Stanford Medicine leadership celebrated the Stanford's CyberKnife radiosurgery program as a great collaboration of scientific intellect between Neurosurgery and Radiation Oncology. Dr. Quynh Le, professor and chair of the department of radiation oncology,  described the history of radiation oncology at Stanford. Dr. Henry Kaplan developed the first high-energy linear accelerator for therapeutic use in the Western Hemisphere in the 1950’s at Stanford, noted Dr. Le.

Dr. John Adler reflected on the genesis of the CyberKnife, describing the highly collaborative and inventive environment of Stanford as being key to the development of the technology. "If radiosurgery worked so well in the brain, maybe I could contribute to its success elsewhere in the body. How ironic and how lucky, that the only place where I might recognize this dream would be here at Stanford," he said.  

The event also celebrated Stanford Medicine's long commitment to advancing cancer treatment since Stanford neuroscientists developed the first-ever radiosurgery system three decades ago.

"The new S7 machine will nearly double patient access to stereotactic radiosurgery treatments at our Neuroscience Health Center. I'm proud of all the continuing advances of CyberKnife and ongoing brain tumor clinical trials at Stanford Medicine," said Dr. Lim, chair and professor of neurosurgery. "In the spirit of Stanford’s innovation, we’re looking to change the paradigm of radiation being a local therapy.  As an example, we are investigating immunotherapy in tandem with CyberKnife, and evaluating chemotherapy and CyberKnife radiation as a combination treatment."

The CyberKnife machine features a flexible frameless system that features precise tumor tracking ability and provides treatment without rigid fixation. The CyberKnife can deliver radiosurgery by tracking and automatically adjusting for patient motion by synchronizing with it, delivering radiation with sub-millimeter accuracy anywhere in the body. The CyberKnife also features multi-modality image fusion, with steep dose gradients that allow the target to be treated while minimizing the dose to healthy tissues.

"The S7 generation CyberKnife is the most advanced CyberKnife to date, with significant upgrades over prior generations of CyberKnife machines," said Dr. Steven Chang. "Stanford Medicine is proud to be able to offer its patients the most cutting-edge technology for their treatment."

CyberKnife radiosurgery is used as treatment for brain disorders, including tumors, AVMs, and trigeminal neuralgia, as well as movement disorders. Stanford Medicine physicians have the ability to use CyberKnife radiosurgery to treat head and neck tumors, and tumors of the lung, breast, spine, liver, pancreas, kidney and prostate.

Dr. Chang and Dr. Soltys are the co-Directors of the Stanford CyberKnife Program.