Cancer Care Centre Acquires TrueBeam Devices

Cancer patients in the north-east of England will be able to receive modern radiosurgery treatments without having to travel outside the region since the Northern Centre for Cancer Care (NCCC) in Newcastle –upon-Tyne announced that it is acquiring two TrueBeam™ STx medical linear accelerators from Varian Medical Systems.

The new systems, which will offer advanced stereotactic radiosurgery treatments for the first time, are scheduled for installation at the City’s Freeman Hospital during this year.

“We want to introduce stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) and stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) programs, which are becoming the standard of care for many cancer treatments,” said Gill Lawrence, head of radiotherapy physics.

“Once the new machines are installed, the SABR program will be available initially for lung cancer patients the SRS program for treating conditions in the brain; subsequent developments include plans for liver and pancreatic cancer treatments.”

SABR offers early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer patients - including those who are inoperable or elderly - a non-invasive treatment option.

The Northern Centre for Cancer Care, which moved to a new purpose-built oncology center in 2008, serves 1.7 million people from across the Northumberland, Tyne-and-Wear and Durham region. The clinic aims to deliver 38 to 42 individual treatments per day on each of its eight linear accelerators.

Newcastle-based charities, including the local Charlie Bear Fund and the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation – initiated by the former England and Newcastle soccer team manager – were instrumental in contributing to the purchase of the new machines.