After surviving Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL) for 5 yrs I've now been diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC), which so far has manifested in a small tumor in the neck and one tonsil. I'm a non-smoker and it's a pretty early detection so the prognosis is good. My treatment options (in Australia) are surgery or radiotherapy. The radiotherapy will be 35 sessions of treatment M-F, for 6-7 weeks, total of 68 gray, the side effects are not great and involve skin burn, mouth ulceration, difficulty eating, dental issues, etc, but for the most part will be temporary and offer very good prospects of a cure. The surgery option on the other hand has more drastic side effects and permanent trauma, so it's looks like radiotherapy will be the path. My concern is that this treatment may impact on future treatment options if the MCL relapses (evidently it's just a matter of time) as I'm told there's a limit to the amount of radiation that can be administered, and my initial MCL treatment did involve radiation although at a lower level. I've been informed that another possible treatment option to explore is the cyberknife, which unfortunately is not available in Australia (although there are over 200 systems installed worldwide, mostly in USA, but including India & Vietnam!). A search of this forum didn't reveal much about the cyberknife, but I'm wondering if anyone has knowledge or experience of this treatment and if so could they post their experience. There's plenty of info about the cyberknife on other websites (http://www.cyberknifeaustralia.com/about-us/what-is-cyberknife/, http://www.accuray.com, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=43255564285) which I'm still absorbing, but after what I've read so far I'm amazed we don't have this system in Australia.
