Brachytherapy, which is touted as the best and latest in cancer therapy is now available to patients at Sydney's Mater Hospital Radiotherpahy Department.
It is combing of mapping with high dose radiotherapy, and is set to improve results with fewer side effects.This becomes the first of its kind in the southern hemisphere, bringing together image-enhancing technology that builds 3D pictures of where cancer is situated. The unit's sophisticated mapping software guides tubes or needles of radiation material into the exact shape of the cancer.
This translates into patients no longer needs to be transported between x-ray departments and treatment rooms, and the treatment period is shorter.
The Mater Hospital's all-in-one barchytheraphy unit allows higher, more accurate, doses to be given over a shorter period.
Mater Hospital Dr Michael Izard said, "We can do it all as a convenient one stop shop if you like, we can plan for the patient, we can implant the patient and we can treat the patient all in the one procedure. For each particular patient you can absolutely tailor how much radiation you want to go to a particular spot, so treatment is swift, recovery is quick, patients have fewer side effects."
Prostate cancer patient Kim Harvey said, "I'm extremely confident I've made the right decision here."
Advertisement
