Serbia to get cyberknife for treating tumors – Ministry of Health considering acquiring the latest technology

Cyberknife, a device targeting inoperable tumors throughout the organism, might soon arrive to the Clinical Center of Serbia.

As Minister of Health Zlatibor Loncar announced, they are seriously considering acquiring this miracle of technology. At the moment, patients from Serbia are sent to the Acibadem clinic in Turkey for the cyberknife treatment.

– By acquiring the cyberknife and with new accelerators, we might round up the field of oncology and provide our patients with what is a standard in the world – Loncar said for Blic.

As there are several types of this device in the market, the ministry will consider all potential models in the coming period and opt for the best one regarding the characteristics and the price.

The device is very expensive, and, according to Loncar, it will require a special building and specially trained staff.

Dr Milos Jokovic, director of the Neurosurgery Clinic of the Clinical Center of Serbia, explains for the advantages of the cyberknife for Blic.

– It's a robotic radio radiosurgery system for noninvasive treatments of malignant and benign tumors. This pertains to tumors of the head, brain, neck, spine, but also other parts of the body, such as the lungs, liver, prostate. It can be used on patients of all ages, it has no side-effects, causes no pain or other symptoms – Jokovic says.

The advantage of this device is that it can be used for nearly all parts of the body, whereas the gamma knife primarily treats tumors of the head and brain.

– Sources of radiation of the gamma knife and the cyberknife are different. In cyberknives, radiation is produced by a linear particle accelerator (LINAC), whose beam is directed by the robot to a specific point on the body. There is no so-called opening of the patient. The advantage of this device is that it can treat tumors in parts of the body which move during the radiation, such as the lungs. The camera monitors the targeted part of the body, and, as the chest moves, so does the source of radiation so that it always targets the tumor. The difference between classical radiation and the cyberknife is exclusively in the precision – Jokovic says.

The device considerably shortens the treatment period compared to classical radiation.

The most affected patients with brain tumors and metastases have been sent to the Acibadem Hospital in Turkey for cyberknife treatment for years, and the procedures costing around EUR 7,000 are financed by the National Health Insurance Fund.

Klinički centar Srbije Beograd

Ministarstvo zdravlja Republike Srbije

ACIBADEM Beograd

Republički fond za zdravstveno osiguranje Beograd

Clinical Center of Serbia

cyberknife for treating tumors

Ministry of Health

Acibadem clinic

oncology

Milos Jokovic

Neurosurgery Clinic

robotic radiosurgery system

gamma knife

linear particle accelerator

LINAC

radiation

National Health Insurance Fund

NHIF

cancer treatment

oncology procedures