State-of-the-art radiotherapy equipment benefiting patients

Patients undergoing radiotherapy are benefiting from a new treatment which reduces treatment time whilst increasing accuracy and patient comfort.

Surface Guided Radiotherapy (SGRT) is now being offered to patients receiving radiotherapy for breast cancer and thoracic cancers. The system, Allign RT, uses specialist cameras to create a unique 3D outline of the surface of a patient’s body. The new equipment has been installed in all five TrueBeam linear accelerators (linacs) and the departments dedicated CT scanner.

Radiotherapy is the use of powerful X-rays to treat cancers. We treat approximately 3,000 patients with radiotherapy every year. Therapeutic radiographers plan and deliver radiotherapy and traditionally use tattoo marks and X-ray images to ensure patients are positioned correctly. They then monitor patients carefully during their treatment to ensure they stay in the correct position. SGRT uses light beams and advanced cameras to create a three-dimensional outline of the patient’s body, helping the therapeutic radiographers get the patient into the correct position more accurately and quickly.  It can also be used to automatically interrupt treatment if the patient is no longer in the correct position, which is usually a manual task.

The benefits of SGRT are quick and accurate patient positioning, no requirement for tattoo marks and less X-ray image exposure to patients.

Jo Thomas, Clinical Operational Manager (Therapeutic Radiographer), said: “SGRT is a complete game changer for patients, and we are so excited to be able to use this new technology. Patients don’t need to be handled and moved by us as much, they’re in the treatment room for a shorter time, and it’s much nicer not to have a tattoo, because they’re not left with a visual reminder of a really difficult time, after their treatment has finished.

“The technology is cutting edge. If a patient coughs or sneezes and moves more than a set tolerance, the beam will cut out and treatment will stop, so that the treatment is only delivered to the intended target. Previously we had to rely on watching patients from outside the treatment room.”

The equipment, made by VisionRT Ltd, has cost over £1m and has been funded from the departments Managed Service Contract, provided through Ergea UK and Ireland Ltd. Alongside the core training provided by VisionRT, the Norfolk and Norwich Hospitals Charity sponsored specialist training days for more than 40 therapeutic radiographers. NNUH will be a reference site for other teams looking to introduce SGRT, passing on what we have learnt.

Mark Gilham, Head of Radiotherapy said: “I’m so proud of the department for coming together as a team to get SGRT up and running. Everyone is excited to use it. It’s the biggest change I’ve seen in positioning patients for radiotherapy. We’ve started offering this to patients with breast and thoracic cancers and hope to offer it to all patients in the next six to twelve months.”

Will Holmes-Smith, Head of Radiotherapy Physics said: “It’s not often you get a technology within Radiotherapy that increases the accuracy of delivery, reduces the patient treatment time, improves the patient experience, and decreases the imaging radiation dose to the patient. There is usually a trade off, but with SGRT there isn’t. It’s amazing to be able to introduce this and to improve the treatment we can offer to patients”.

Sixty-one-year-old Diane Pyle from Tacolneston was the first patient to have SGRT for breast cancer here. She said: “Having experienced both methods of treatment, I am really pleased and honestly a little excited to have been the first person to have benefited from the new SGRT. It’s less hands on, there’s no need for pen marks or permanent tattoos and it’s much quicker for me and the really wonderful staff delivering my radiotherapy.”

SGRT is also being introduced at Addenbrookes this September.

We will also be the first in the country to install MapRT later this year. MapRT is an additional module from VisionRT which can be used, prior to the patients first treatment, to optimise treatment angles, using a full 3D model of the patient and any accessories. This will help reduce any delays to treatment, which, before MapRT, may have been caused by extra planning and machine time to check treatment delivery safety.