The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre is one of three providers in Canada, radiation oncologist Dr.Shawn Malone told the crowd of about 35. Patients began benefiting from the technology in September.

“There have been dramatic improvements over the last two decades in radiation therapy,” Malone said. “We are getting referrals for CyberKnife from across Canada. There’s going to be a big demand for this.”

Cyberknife uses a robotic arm with a laser to pinpoint tumors, timing its movement to the body’s natural movements to avoid harming surrounding tissue. It is especially effective against brain, lung, prostate, spinal, liver, pancreatic and kidney cancers.

It works on many more cancers than traditional radiation therapy, which is used only on brain cancer patients.

Unlike traditional radiation therapy, a patient doesn’t have their head frozen and experience the pain of a metal frame bolted to their head. They don’t spend hours enduring the procedure. They don’t take months to recover. They don’t repeat the process nearly as many times.

And the success rate, at least as it applies to lung cancer, is the same at 80 to 90per cent.

With CyberKnife, patients are fitted with a custom mask before experiencing the out-patient treatment for 30- to 90-minutes. The hospital’s team spends much less time in the preparation and planning stages.

Dr. Malone said patients with two or three tumours can have them treated at the same time.The recovery time is often just one week.

CyberKnife cuts down the number of treatments from 25 to 40 sessions, to between one and five.

“We are now the most equipped cancer centre in Canada,” Malone declared to much applause.

Still at the research stage, Cyberknife was costly to bring here and requires significant ongoing funding to cover studies. But as director of cancer fundraising Sharon Cardiff explained, Eastern Ontario patients are enjoying priority and the research will benefit all Canadians. The wait list is only two to three weeks.

“We wouldn’t have CyberKnife if it wasn’t for (the generous donations of) this community,” Cardiff said. “We no longer have to go to the U.S. for treatment. It may very well be we have to go back to the community for a second CyberKnife.”

Arnprior Rotary president Dave Palmer said with one in three Canadians expected to develop cancer, donating to the technology may benefit the donor directly.

“All of us are affected by cancer,” Palmer said. “This is a huge and wonderful advancement in cancer treatment. Please consider this as something you or someone you know may need some day.”