Cambridge University Hospitals NHS FT has installed a new technology to support precision radiosurgery and radiotherapy for patients with cancer and other conditions at its Addenbrooke’s Hospital.
The technology uses an advanced form of Surface Guided RadioTherapy (SGRT) and x-ray monitoring, combining 4D thermal-surface camera technology with real-time x-ray tracking, resulting in submillimetre accuracy in treatment delivery.
The £500,000 system has been developed by medical technology company, BrainLab, based in Munich. By providing 300,000 surface points the technology aims to ensure a greater chance of success by avoiding any inadvertent damage to neighbouring soft tissue or vital organs sensitive to radiation.
June Dean, associate radiotherapy manager and head of technical operations for the radiotherapy centre at Addenbrooke’s said: “Our focus is on making sure patients have access to high quality treatment that meets their needs.”
“This system uses surface guidance for patient positioning with high quality imaging that enables us to reduce the use of high dose x-rays and ultimately to treat patients with far greater precision. Eventually, it will also allow us to successfully treat a broader range of patients, including patients with breast cancer who struggle to achieve deep inspiration breath hold; a technique that enables us to avoid treating the heart.”
“We are really lucky to have it. Radiotherapy is a highly targeted treatment and anything we can do to spare healthy tissue is ultimately going to benefit the patient.”
Tara Djanani, clinical marketing manager for BrainLab, said: “This has begun a new era of radiotherapy with the hybrid technology of 3D surface tracking and thermal acquisition with the assurance of configurable x-ray monitoring.”
“The combination of tracking the patient’s external surface and correlating this to the internal anatomy enables healthcare professionals to deliver accurate treatment.”
