Hospital takes delivery of new cancer treatment machine

CANCER patients are set to benefit from a new treatment at University Hospital.

The Intensity Modulated RadioTherapy (IMRT) is a form of radiotherapy which targets extremely specific areas allowing for higher doses to be used and on patients with difficult to reach tumours.

To go along with the treatment £1.8m was spent on a state-of-the-art linear accelerator, a machine used to deliver radiotherapy.

It is set to complement a similar machine being prepared for clinical use that set chiefs back another £1.4m.

Hospital chief executive Andy Hardy branded the investments 'priceless'.

Dr Spyros Manolopoulos, strategy lead for radiotherapy physics, added: “The team is very proud to bring these state-of-the-art machines that will allow for more cutting edge treatments to be provided to our patients and enable the introduction of new advanced treatments currently not offered by our centre.”

Two more machines able to use IMRT are already in use and the site has already beat government targets after hospitals were asked to treat 24 per cent of sufferers in that way.

In September the hospital's figure was 27.4 per cent.

Linda Farthing, radiation therapy manager, added: “This is a fantastic treatment which makes a real difference to our patients.

“Patients with cancer are often scared and stressed about what options they have for treatment so we are proud that at UHCW we can offer this cutting edge technology to them.”

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