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Our second Halcyon @BHR_hospitals is less than two years old but is being upgraded: why so soon?
It’s becoming an Ethos - a new development by @VarianMedSys for on-line adaptive radiotherapy. The new Ethos cover (still in bubble-wrap) goes on this weekend. Explanation follows…
It’s becoming an Ethos - a new development by @VarianMedSys for on-line adaptive radiotherapy. The new Ethos cover (still in bubble-wrap) goes on this weekend. Explanation follows…
External beam radiotherapy is given daily, from once to >30 times, depending on what is being treated. Tumours & organs to be avoided are drawn on a patient’s CT scan; consistent delivery of radiation to the tumour whilst avoiding healthy organs is vital for effective treatment.
A patient’s external position and internal anatomy differs from day to day and this must be accounted for, either by giving a high dose to a volume around where the tumour could be, or by having a set of fixed plans to choose from.
Ethos is a new radiotherapy system that takes CT images of the patient immediately before treatment and uses AI to create tumour and organ structures on those images. Manual contouring of these structures can take hours but Ethos does it in minutes.
Ethos then creates a new plan adapted to the patient’s anatomy - so imaging, contouring, plan creation and delivery is possible in a 15-20 minute “online adaptive” treatment slot, all determined by the patient as they are on the day.
Optimising treatment delivery on each day can mean better tumour control and less damage to healthy tissue. Also patients could be treated as they are, instead of having to undergo uncomfortable procedures that attempt to minimise internal anatomy differences.
This fits with our vision to make our treatments adapt to the needs of patients, instead of asking our patients to adapt to the way we do things. We’re looking forward to offering on-line adaptive treatments very soon. More news as it happens!
