Harley Street Cancer Centre installs first dual RapidArc radio therapy system
RapidArc – the biggest advance in linear accelerator radiotherapyThe treatment of disease using radiation. for many years - has been installed at the Harley Street Cancer Centre, the first such technology to become operational in London.
RapidArc delivers radiotherapy faster and with a greater level of accuracy than previous linear accelerators. Linked to a unique tumourAn abnormal swelling. mapping system, the RapidArc travels around a patient targeting tumours from 360 degrees in just two minutes, rather than 20 minutes of exposure with older systems. It delivers radiationEnergy in the form of waves or particles, including radio waves, X-rays and gamma rays., following the contours of cancers, in one rotation giving better coverage of the tumour volume with far less damage to nearby healthy tissueA group of cells with a similar structure and a specialised function..
In the case of prostateA gland that surrounds the urethra near the bladder. It produces a fluid that forms part of the semen. cancer for example, prior to the introduction of RapidArc, patients could sometimes suffer radiation damage to the bladderThe organ that stores urine. or the rectumThe last part of the large intestine, where faeces are stored before being passed. but this new system is safer and more comfortable for the patient. In addition, in the past, radiation doses had to be delivered slowly from one direction in several sessions spread over a period of several weeks, but now, all that is in the past.
The Harley Street Cancer Centre is the hub of the HCA Cancer Care network, the largest provider of cancer care in the UK outside the NHS. Based at The Harley Street Clinic, the £3.5 million radiotherapy machines are the latest additions to this year’s £25 million investment programme in the latest technology. The cancer centre recently became the first hospital in the UK to install the revolutionary robotic CyberKnife® radiosurgery system.
Chief Executive Neil Buckley said the addition of the new state of the art radiotherapy machines meant that The Harley Street Clinic now had the most technologically advanced cancer network in Europe. “In a matter of just a few months we have opened the new CyberKnife® centre, The London Gamma Knife centre for the treatment of brain tumours which we have based at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and now, the two RapidArc machines – in addition to new CTThe abbreviation for computed tomography, a scan that generates a series of cross-sectional x-ray images, PETCT and MRIAn abbreviation for magnetic resonance imaging, a technique for imaging the body that uses electromagnetic waves and a strong magnetic field. scanning and mapping equipment that is either already installed or in the process of being installed,” he said. “And this is in addition to our special bloodA fluid that transports oxygen and other substances through the body, made up of blood cells suspended in a liquid. and bone cancer centre at University College Hospital.”
Kicking off with Austin Obichere, totalhealth will shortly be running a series of educational updates on the latest cancer advances available in the UK.
