Hi-Tech Tumour Radiation Therapy

THE UK’s first image-guided radiation therapy treatments to help cancer patients are under way at Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology.

The machine, known as an On Board Imager, produces images of a patient’s tumour which help clinicians deliver radiation therapy more accurately, therefore destroying less of the patient’s surrounding healthy tissue.

Dr Philip Mayles, head of medical physics at the centre, said: “We only have one bite at the cherry when delivering radiation treatment so anything that helps us treat the tumour with more accuracy is going to benefit our patients.

“This device also helps us interpret the location of the tumour more easily whilst the patient is in the treatment position.

“We can then automatically move the couch to the correct position before delivering the radiation.”

He added: “Another advantage will be that for the first time, we will be able to track the breathing patterns of primarily lung and breast cancer patients enabling us to deliver the radiation beams in bursts to correspond exactly with the tumour’s position