New MRIdian cancer scanning machine provides live tumour images, enabling higher doses of radiation to be used

The machine, which has been hailed as the ‘world’s smartest radiotherapy treatment’, uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to show live and detailed images of the tumour and surrounding tissue in a continual film rather than as a still image. The machine also automatically cuts out if the tumour moves, thus avoiding healthy tissue being affected.

The improved accuracy of the new method allows higher doses of radiation to be used, increasing the likelihood that cancers can be eradicated sooner.

The machine is particularly useful in treating pancreatic, liver, prostate and lung cancers that haven’t spread, as they are positioned close to major organs which, if damaged, can have devastating side effects.

Professor Pat Price, chair of the charity Action Radiotherapy, said “This technology ensures the radiotherapy is going in the right place, it’s a real breakthrough and is certainly the future of radiotherapy.”

Dr Philip Camilleri, clinical oncologist at Oxford University Hospitals, also practices at the private GenesisCare clinic in Oxford, which is the first treatment centre in the UK to offer this machine for treating a range of cancers.

De Camilleri said “The prostate can move as much as 10mm to 20mm in any direction due to changes in the anatomy from day to day, and this treatment allows us to adapt the radiation field to these daily changes, ensuring treatment is as accurate and effective as possible.

“The machine scans and tracks the tumour during treatment and the radiotherapy beam automatically stops in the target moves out of the zone even by a little bit.”

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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