CyberKnife, the first and only whole body radio surgery system, is now proving to be a viable treatment option for Atrial fibrillation, behavioural disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders, depression, epilepsy obesity, besides Deep Brain Stimulation to treat Parkinson's and epilepsy.

The robotic surgery system, used to treat a variety of cancers, is now preferred for correcting abnormal heart rhythms. It is being recommended to replace the current invasive surgery with painless laser intervention.

Further, CyberKnife's is an alternative to treat Trigeminal Neuralgia or facial nerve pain, Arteriovenous malformations or abnormal blood vessels in the brain and benign tumours such as Acoustic neuromas and meningiomas. These conditions are proving to show good response, said Dr John R Adler, professor, department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University Medical Centre, also the inventor of CyberKnife and founder of Accuray Inc a Nasdaq listed start-up.

"We have seen promising results in non-cancer conditions and doctors are successfully treating a growing number of such cases using the CyberKnife," he added.

In the case of Atrial fibrillation, which is the most common cardiac arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythm), CyberHeart, which is a three year-old early stage, venture capital-supported medical device company founded by Dr Thomas Fogarty and Roderick Young, has developed a proprietary cardiac technology utilizing CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System. The company has an exclusive intellectual property license agreement to develop this innovative electrophysiology application for the heart.

As part of its global studies on Atrial fibrillation treatment with the radio surgery procedure, CyberHeart is conducting human studies in Japan and Korea with CyberKnife said Dr Adler.

Medical experts said Atrial fibrillation affects one in 25 adults and is the most common cause of irregular heartbeat, accounting for a third of all hospitalizations for arrhythmias.

In the case of the patients with behaviour disorders like obsessive compulsive disorder, depression and epilepsy, Stanford University has been able to work on the complex circuitry in the brain cells caused by chemical imbalance. "Using CyberKnife, we are able to target conveniently, comfortably and accurately to correct the imbalance," said Dr Adler who was in Bangalore.

CyberKnife was approved by US FDA in 2001, has made a mark in treating cancers. There are 178 installations of CyberKnife across US, Europe and Asia. Japan has the second highest installations after US. Currently, India has only two CyberKnife installations at Apollo Hospital, Chennai and Healthcare Global Enterprises in Bangalore, which is South Asia's largest cancer care network with 17 hospitals under its umbrella.

At HCG, 100 patients have undergone treatment at the rate of 10 cases a day in the last three months. Hospitals in China, can carry out 18 cases a day. Going by the growing incidence and awareness on early treatment, hospitals are gearing up to handle 25 patients for Cyberknife treatment, said Dr B S Ajai Kumar, chairman & CEO, HCG.

Efforts are on to start clinical trials in India with CyberKnife for cancer. Also, India is on the radar as a destination for human studies for Atrial fibrillation using this robotic surgery, said Dr Adler.