New Jersey CyberKnife Celebrates One Year at Community Medical Center

New Jersey CyberKnife opened in July 2011 as part of the J. Phillip Citta Regional Cancer Center at Community Medical Center and was the first in Ocean County to offer CyberKnife treatment. One year later, New Jersey CyberKnife reflects on several milestones from its first year of providing cancer care for patients throughout Ocean County and surrounding communities.

Highlights for the program:

• More than 100 patients have been treated with CyberKnife technology in the first year of operations, exceeding hospital expectations.

• Diseases most often treated in the last year include: lung tumors, prostate cancer and brain tumors. Lung tumors represent the largest number of cases, with more than 30% of treatments falling into this category. Additionally, New Jersey CyberKnife has begun treating patients with trigeminal neuralgia, a rare nerve disorder that causes excruciating, electroshock-like pain throughout the face.

• Based on patient satisfaction surveys, the center has scored 96% in all categories of patient experience measurement, which examines various factors such as communication with doctors and staff, quality of care and likelihood of recommending the facility to others.

• The center has implemented several clinical research studies aimed at improving treatment protocols. Open clinical trials currently include studies for lung cancer, prostate cancer and brain metastasis.

“Our team’s accomplishments in this first year are a true testament to our dedication to providing quality care to patients and building awareness for the CyberKnife program in our community,” said Dr. David D’Ambrosio, radiation oncologist and medical director of New Jersey CyberKnife.

CyberKnife is a robotic radiosurgery system that treats malignant and benign tumors throughout the body with a procedure called stereotactic radiosurgery, a noninvasive method of treating tumors with high-dose radiation beams precisely aimed from different angles. The result is greatly increased accuracy that spares healthy tissue. CyberKnife treatment is complete within five or less outpatient sessions.

For more information, submit an online request through our website here.