New Technology Aiding Cancer Patients

By Latoya Silmon, News On 6

The fight against cancer is getting easier for some Green Country patients. Hillcrest Medical is now armed with a powerful new tool to zap tumors without patients having to go under the knife.

Tulsa is the first in the world to have the latest model of this revolutionary machine. One prostate cancer patient hopes the technology will help him get over cancer faster so he can get on with his life.

Once Don Potter is strapped in and the mood is set with music, CyberKnife goes to work.

"The CyberKnife is a brand new type of radiation in that it uses a robot that you see here to basically give the radiation in all sorts of different directions," said Dr. Diane Heaton, Radiation Oncologist.

Dr. Diane Heaton says it's a more complex treatment but it's more accurate, done in half the time and is only a third of the cost of traditional treatment.

Treatment normally takes 9 weeks for prostate cancer patients like Don, but with CyberKnife, just five days.

The beams target Don's tumor in his prostate while doctors and technicians monitor the machine in another room.

Don's done in about 30 minutes.

"No pain, no anything and it's a lot better than the alternative, being cut or whatever and the pain of that," said Don Potter, prostate cancer patient.

Don Potter knows a lot about pain. He's lost a brother and sister to cancer. But, he's determined to survive.

"We want to travel and do all that. As soon as we get this over with, we're going to travel across the Blue Ridge Pipeway and see the leaves change," said Potter.

Dr. Heaton says since his tumor was detected early the odds are in Don's favor.

"The typical thing we're seeing is between 85% and 100% of all tumors that are within where we treated are stopped," said Dr. Heaton.

Saint John has an older version of CyberKnife, but it's the newest version that has put Tulsa on the map. Hillcrest is getting calls from doctors all around the world asking about the machine.