Dubai: American Hospital Dubai announced that it has successfully treated more than 10 cancer patients with the CIVICO trUpoint ARCH SRS / SRT and Body Pro-Lok ONE SBRT Immobilisation Systems, which are designed to deliver radiation therapy to cancer patients.
With the arrival of these new systems, the hospital is able to offer cancer patients in the UAE and the region radiation oncology procedures that spare them the need for conventional surgery and a lengthy recovery.
This type of radiotherapy is a non-invasive treatment process that administers very high beams of various intensities aimed at different angles to precisely target the tumour, while completely immobilising the patient.
With this breakthrough treatment, the hospital has made the radiation treatment of cancer cases much shorter than conventional radiation, as a few sessions are able to destroy tumours, and offers new hope for patients including those suffering from brain, breast and prostate cancer.
“The CIVICO trUpoint ARCH SRS / SRT provides superior immobilisation for a variety of brain, head and neck radiotherapy treatments, while the Body Pro-Lok ONE SBRT Immobilisation System, helps keep the patient in a completely still state, allowing for accurate position of the target,” said Dr Tarek Dufan, director of the Radiation Oncology Department, American Hospital Dubai. When patients receive radiation therapy, it is imperative that they are completely immobilised throughout the treatment. This means, if the cells are in a body part, patients are requested to lie on the special radiotherapy bed, which molds into the exact shape of the patient’s body. However, if the radiology treatment is on the head area, the patient is required to wear a unique head mask specially designed to meet the unique requirements of patient immobilisation for radiotherapy.
“We have already seen great improvements and success from treating our patients with these systems. I have no doubt that they will prove to be a choice of many more patients, given their ability to effectively target and treat cancer cells in few treatment sessions only, and with sub-millimetre precision, while keeping the disruption to patients’ daily lives minimal,” added Dr Dufan.
While the SBRT targets the tumour very precisely and the risk of damage to normal surrounding tissues is low, the side effects may be less than with other types of radiotherapy.
