Painless, non-invasive cancer treatment available in South Africa
The Life Healthcare Group, one of South Africa’s leading hospital groups, brings sophisticated radiation cancer technology to cancer patients in the Gauteng region, with the opening of the Oncology Centre at Life Eugene Marais Hospital, extending Life Healthcare’s oncology footprint and new radiation technology into three provinces.
Cancer patients now have access to the TrueBeam STX Novalis Radiosurgery treatment. This is a form of radiation treatment that is non-invasive, painless and versatile. It allows for the protection of surrounding healthy tissue, and takes body or tumour movements into account, which has the propensity of increasing overall treatment accuracy.
This comes some two years after successfully launching the Novalis Tx at Life Vincent Pallotti (Cape Town) and more recently at Life Hilton Private Hospital (KZN) in 2016.
“Technological advances in the medical sector have been crucial in the fight against cancer. The TrueBeam STX Novalis Radiosurgery unit is the latest technology in the industry, and its set to transform how we treat cancer,” says Dr Rouchelle Marais, Radiation Oncologist at Life Eugene Marais Hospital.
The TrueBeam STX Novalis Radiosurgery platform makes it possible for doctors to treat patients with many types of tumours including cranial, spinal, head & neck, lung, liver and prostate as well as abnormal connection between arteries and veins, (arteriovenous malformations (AVMs)) and chronic pain disorder which affects the trigeminal nerve (rigeminal neuralgia). Combining a highly precise patient positioning system with sophisticated treatment planning software, the TrueBeamSTX Novalis Radiosurgery technology helps clinicians destroy cancerous cells while helping to protect surrounding healthy tissue.
“Undergoing treatment for a tumour or lesion can be challenging, it is for this reason that’s why TrueBeamSTX Novalis Radiosurgery is designed with the patient in mind. In most cases, treatment is not painful. You do not need anaesthesia, and while patient responses vary, most are able to get back to their normal routines a few hours after TrueBeamSTX Novalis Radiosurgery,” says Dr Marais.
The technology, developed from a collaboration between Varian and Brainlab, offers a new treatment option for cancer patients, many of whom have tumours that have been deemed inoperable.
Treatment can also be made more patient-friendly by delivering frameless radiosurgery for brain tumours, an alternative to techniques that require immobilisation with an invasive head ring fixed to the skull.
“At Life Healthcare we are especially proud of the advances we’ve made in offering technologically innovative radiotherapy units at our Life Hilton Private Hospital, Life Vincent Pallotti Hospital and most recently at our Life Eugene Marais Hospital. We strive to deliver market leading quality care across our service offerings and one of the ways we can do this is by being at the forefront of providing innovative technology to our patients,” says Dr Paul Soko, Life Healthcare Clinical Directorate Executive.
