Clatterbridge Cancer Centre selects Novalis Tx platform for robotic
radiosurgery
22 February 2010
The Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology in North West England
has ordered the UK’s first Novalis Tx radiosurgery platform from Varian
Medical Systems and BrainLAB.
The system, which offers an alternative to surgery for cancer and
other abnormalities of the brain and body, will start treating
patients when Clatterbridge's new satellite centre opens in 2011.
The radiosurgery platform will make it possible for doctors at
the Centre to offer the most appropriate form of treatment based on
patients’ specific needs, from stereotactic radiosurgery — a very
fast treatment designed to eradicate a tumour or lesion in a single
session — to longer courses of image-guided radiotherapy, with
lower-dose treatments spread out over more sessions.
“Fast
treatments are easier on the patient,” says Clatterbridge Senior
Research Radiographer Angela Heaton. “It’s hard for anyone to hold
still for long periods of time and movement can compromise treatment
accuracy. With the Novalis Tx radiosurgery platform, treatments that
would have taken up to an hour or more using other techniques can be
completed in just minutes, with no compromise in accuracy.”
“The Novalis Tx radiosurgery platform will allow us to treat more
patients with stereotactic radiosurgery,” says Mr. Mohsen Javadpour,
Consultant Neurosurgeon at The Walton Centre, Liverpool, which will
be sharing the new system with Clatterbridge. “It can be used to
treat tumours that are inoperable or when surgery presents too high
a risk to the patient. This technology helps to deliver highly
precise treatment to the tumour with minimal side effects while
protecting the surrounding healthy tissue, so we are able to
confidently address even the most complex conditions."
The platform combines a powerful linear accelerator, which
rotates around the patient to deliver treatment beams from any angle
with a set of advanced image guidance and motion management tools
that guide patient set-up and positioning, and monitor motion during
treatment. A high-definition multi-leaf collimator shapes the
treatment beam so it matches the shape of the tumour from every
angle. Other radiosurgery devices utilise circular beams to treat.
As most lesions are irregular in shape, a circular dose does not
completely cover the exact shape of the tumour. The Novalis Tx
radiosurgery platform can be used to deliver frameless radiosurgery
treatments, a more patient-friendly alternative to other systems
that require immobilization with a head ring that attaches to the
skull.
“Targeted beams are delivered without an incision from outside
the body to destroy tumours or other abnormalities, so patients
treated in this way can avoid lengthy recovery periods, and many of
the complications often associated with conventional invasive
surgery,” said Dr. Brian Haylock, Clinical Director for Radiotherapy
at Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology. “Novalis Tx radiosurgery
technology offers us unparalleled image guidance tools and treatment
beam sculpting capabilities, so we can achieve a precise level of
targeting to protect more of the patient’s healthy tissue during the
procedure.”
Image-guided radiosurgery involves efficient delivery of
precisely focused, high-energy radiation to a localized area to
destroy tumours throughout the body that often cannot be addressed
by conventional surgery, including some malignant and benign
lesions, brain metastases, arteriovenous malformations, and other
functional conditions such as trigeminal neuralgia.