Cyberknife - Comparison With Other Stereotactic Systems - Novalis

Novalis

Another popular Stereotactic system is the Novalis produced by Brainlab. The Novalis radiosurgery system utilizes a small computer controlled micro Multi Leaf Collimator mMLC, that can produce many complicated shapes. The maximum radiation field size that the Novalis can produce is 98 mm x 98 mm, and the minimum is 3mm x 3mm allowing a considerable range of tumors to be treated. The Novalis system also has X-ray imaging using amorphous silicon flat panel X-ray detectors. A 2D/3D image fusion of the patient setup X-rays with digitally reconstructed radiographs from a planning CT scan quickly determines a correction vector for the patients position. Infrared fiducial markers attached to the patient then allow precise tracking of the correction vector's application to the patient's position via an infrared camera and a couch that can move in all six dimensions enables the precise positioning of the patient. Patient immobilization can also be performed framelessly using the patients internal anatomy as the frame of reference. An implanted marker based respiratory tracking option known as ExacTrac Gating is also an option. BrainLAB's Novalis has become a leading player in the world of neurosurgery.