High tech changes take off at Trust’s radiotherapy Redhill centre
Royal Surrey’s satellite radiotherapy centre, based at Redhill, has updated specialist equipment used to treat cancer patients with plans in place to acquire further cutting-edge technology later this year.
The most recently delivered item is the Varian Halcyon linear accelerator, nicknamed ‘Robin’ by a staff ballot.
Following stringent quality assurance testing, Robin started treating patients at the satellite centre on 8 April. It replaces one of the Redhill site’s two Varian TrueBeam linear accelerators.
Describing the benefits of the new equipment, John Tenny , Radiotherapy Satellite Centre Manager, said: “We replace our linear accelerators every ten years, and Robin is the latest acquisition. Our second machine will be replaced in August, named ‘Kite’ to continue the avian theme.
“The level of control Robin gives us, shaping the beam of radiation, is very similar to the machine it replaces, but the speed of delivery reduces the time our patients have to lay still on the treatment couch and improves the patient experience.”
Robin brings another advantage in the form of its ‘ HyperSight ’ advanced imaging functionality . This rapidly creates very high-quality images of the patient before each treatment.
“The team has also introduced Vision-RT's AlignRT surface-guided radiation therapy system, which uses 3d cameras to monitor the patient’s skin surface making it easier to position the patient correctly. It also allows the radiographers to manually pause the radiation beam if the patient moves during radiotherapy delivery.”
John added: “Normally, when we set our patient up and leave the room, we’re relying on the patient to stay very still under the watchful eye of the radiographers. If they move, the treatment becomes less accurate , but surface guided radiotherapy monitors them constantly so we’re able to see if they move and know straightaway if anything has impacted on the accuracy of the treatment.
“The Trust’s radiotherapy team always aim to provide cutting-edge technology. Radiotherapy is all about the technology and driving changes forward, but being able to improve and develop is also all about the hard work of our staff, with teams across the Trust, who are brilliant at making the changes happen.”
The Redhill Radiotherapy satellite centre is based within East Surrey Hospital in Redhill and sees around 850 patients a year who receive radiotherapy for a variety of cancers.