Cutting edge radiotherapy treatment now available in Peterborough City Hospital which treats Fenland patients
Cutting edge radiotherapy treatment is now being offered to eligible patients at Peterborough City Hospital – offering them specialist care closer to home.
The first patients have already been treated at the radiotherapy department using a high-dose radiotherapy technique offered in the treatment of bone and lymph node oligometastases.
Oligometastases are small secondary cancers that are few in numbers or one solitary lesion.
Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy (SABR) offers very high treatment doses over a short period of time to effectively shrink and eliminate small lesions in the bones and lymph nodes in those cases deemed suitable by the Clinical Oncologist.
Patients eligible to benefit from the treatment are already on the cancer pathway and can be referred by their oncology consultant if they meet certain criteria.
This sophisticated SABR treatment can now be offered to patients with solitary metastases by North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust in its catchment area, who would have previously had to travel further afield for the treatment.
Experienced Trust staff already meet the standard required to plan and deliver this treatment.
Jaak Joe, lead SABR dosimetrist, has been instrumental in the lengthy and stringent process.
He said: “Offering this service locally is vital for patients in our area who previously needed to travel to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge for this cutting-edge treatment”.
“NHS England has been expanding the service for SABR for a number of years and after being accredited through a rigorous validation process, the radiotherapy department at Peterborough City Hospital has now successfully implemented in the department as a standard technique.”
Key team members in the accreditation have included: Consultant Oncologists, Dr Katie Jephcott and Dr Aristoula Papakostidi; Paula Jones, Clinical Operations Manager for Radiotherapy; Stephanie Wagstaff, Lead SABR Radiographer and Dr Nicole Jessop Head of QA and Dosimetry from Medical Physics.
The technique complements the already well-established lung SABR service, offering very high dose curative treatments to early-stage lung tumours.
Peterborough City Hospital, Rutland and Stamford Hospital and Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Huntingdon are all part of North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust.
