Ceylinco Healthcare acquires latest immobilisation devices for TomoTherapy Centre

Tuesday, 5 August 2014 00:26 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Ceylinco Healthcare Services Limited (CHSL) has acquired a series of state-of-the-art immobilisation devices and a Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) package to further enhance treatment and patient care at its TomoTherapy Centre in Colombo. The company said these devices costing Rs. 10.2 million, will help to reduce patient setup time and ensure exact daily positioning of cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy, thereby increasing the degree of precision achieved when directing radiation beams at tumours. The immobilisation devices supplied by QFix, a world leader in radiotherapy patient positioning and immobilisation,headquartered in USA, include a Head & Neck Device that provides superior immobilisation for a variety of brain and head and neck radiotherapy treatments, a Pelvis System that provides easy and accurate positioning for targeting pelvic organs such as in the treatment of prostate cancer and a Breast-board System – a robust mechanism that provides precise daily positioning and prevents collapse of the breast.

While the Stereotactic Radio Surgery (SRS) immobilisation device will be used to treat small brain tumours such as acoustic neuromas, the abdominal and pelvic immobilisation device will be used for Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) to reduce thoracic and abdominal tumour motion during hypofractionated radiation treatment for small or moderate sized tumours of the lung, abdomen and pelvis. “This investment reflects our commitment to offer the highest possible quality and precision in radiation treatment in Sri Lanka,” CHSL Chairman R. Renganathan said. “With the TomoTherapy Centre we have broken new ground in cancer treatment in our country, and the acquisition of key accessories of this nature will make an important difference to patients.” He explained that new technologies and processes have allowed for advances in patient positioning. Indexed immobilisation allows clinicians to enhance treatment effectiveness and maximise clinical efficiency. When the same patient positioning system and couch are used in simulation and in the treatment room, it is possible to ensure identical patient setups between simulation and treatment. In addition to precise patient positioning, indexed immobilisation can significantly reduce the length of treatment sessions by reducing patient movement and by standardising the placement and set-up of immobilisation devices. TheCeylinco TomoTherapy Centre is the second radiation oncology unit set up in Sri Lanka by Ceylinco Healthcare Services Ltd. It is equipped with the latest TomoHD treatment system from Accuray Inc. (USA), the global pioneer in the field of TomoTherapy and operates alongside CHSL’s first radiation treatment unit, which opened in September 2007 with Sri Lanka’s first Linear Accelerator (Linac). TomoTherapy is an integrated, advanced form of 3-dimensional image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT). Because a patient’s anatomy can change from day-to-day, image-guided radiation therapy helps doctors make immediate adjustments to allow for tumour movement or shrinkage, weight loss and other changes.