The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust has successfully delivered online adaptive radiotherapy (oART) on an Elekta linear accelerator, potentially improving treatment precision and helping to minimise damage to healthy tissue.
oART treatments usually require specialised machines, the trust shares, but using the Elekta tool shows how they can be delivered on machines already in use across the NHS, opening up the opportunity for better access for patients. Rather than having clinicians map out the treatment area and adding a margin of healthy tissue to accommodate anatomical changes, then having to revise the plan if any changes occur; use of the system means this can take place during the treatment session itself. The trust highlights that this not only improves treatment accuracy, but helps prevent the need for repeated hospital visits and scans for patients.
“Online adaptive radiotherapy allows us to personalise treatment for each patient on a daily basis,” said Shaista Hafeez, consultant clinical oncologist.
“By adapting the plan to the patient’s anatomy at every session, we can reduce treatment margins and hopefully minimise side effects, while maintaining excellent tumour coverage. Delivering oART on the Elekta linac is a significant step forward, and we are very grateful to The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity for funding this innovative technology, which we hope will be used at more centres to benefit patients across the UK.”
Wider trend: Digital transformation in cancer services
The UK Government has published its National Cancer Plan for England, backed by billions of pounds worth of investments in areas such as digital diagnostics, and informed by almost 12,000 responses to an earlier call for evidence from individuals and organisations. Where it reports previous plans have failed to disrupt “outdated” care models, the government hopes this time to draw on the 10-Year Plan’s three shifts to redesign cancer pathways and modernise approaches to cancer care. Advances in data, genomics, and predictive analytics are in focus to drive pre-emptive care, it continues, while digital therapeutics and the NHS App will give patients choice and control, and partnership will promote innovation and access to clinical trials. A new system of “earned autonomy” and the creation of new incentives for innovation and modernisation are similarly hoped to support rapid transformation.
Last summer, the DHSC announced a centralised system for cancer patients, built into the Federated Data Platform. The Cancer 360 tool collates data points across tests, appointments and treatments, displayed via a dashboard. DHSC highlights how this will help “track a patient’s progress and support personalised treatment plans”.
Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (RCHT) is sponsoring a study exploring the relevance and effectiveness of the 1939 Cancer Act in an increasingly digital world, it has shared. Since the Act’s publication, the way health information is shared and accessed has changed “dramatically”, the trust states, with information widely available via the internet and social media. Led by Priya Joshi, consultant oncologist at RCHT, the study will seek to understand how patients find information on areas such as cancer diagnoses and treatment plans, “with a particular focus on the role of digital media in meeting information needs”.
