Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust is the first Trust in the UK to have acquired pioneering new equipment, helping hundreds of patients in the East Midlands benefit from brain tumour treatment.
Stereotactic Radiotherapy or Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS/SRT) is a type of extremely accurate, targeted radiotherapy treatment for patients with brain metastases (cancer which has spread to the brain). This tumour-targeting treatment is less invasive and improves the quality of life for patients whilst lowering the chance of brain tumours reoccurring.
Dr Keith Langmack, Head of Radiotherapy Physics at NUH, said: “The technology used in SRS delivers extremely accurate directed beams of radiation to the target site, meaning that there is less risk of damage to surrounding healthy tissue and fewer side effects for patients.
“The new combinational kit enables us to provide sub-millimetre precision for targeted radiotherapy treatment. The entire procedure can take around 40 minutes, treating up to three tumours in one session.”
NUH Trust is the only hospital in the East Midlands to offer Stereotactic Radiotherapy and is the first Trust in the UK to treat patients using a unique combination of precision radiotherapy systems.
Russell Hart, Radiotherapy Service Manager, said: “We are extremely delighted to be able to offer this treatment to patients across the East Midlands, with the potential to improve symptoms and quality of life. Previously patients have had to travel outside the region for SRS and this new combination equipment will allow us to treat patients closer to home and more quickly.”
Nottingham Hospitals is home to the region’s largest radiotherapy service based at City Hospital. Across the East Midlands, 277 people are expected to benefit from the treatment by the end of 2018 and this number is expected to rise annually.
Since acquiring the new combination kit, 10 patients have undergone SRS treatment at Nottingham Hospital’s Cancer Centre. Currently, patients set to undergo SRS are referred through the neuro-oncology multi-disciplinary team at Nottingham University Hospitals; if the patient is ready for SRS they are booked in for a consultation with a clinician the following week and can be scheduled for the treatment within two weeks.
Nationally, 6,200 patients per year are expected to benefit from SRS/SRT by 2018/19 compared with just over 2,400 in 2014/15.
In January, Nottingham Hospitals will be working in partnership with Macmillan in launching a new brain metastases services for patients across the East Midlands.
This pathway will be informed by a multi-disciplinary team from a range of specialties within NUH and across the East Midlands, who will discuss the holistic care needs of individual patients including palliative care and supportive care needs.
www.nuh.nhs.uk
