Radiation Therapy in Reach for All

 

Cancer is a global pandemic that affects us all. According to the latest statistics, 1 in 2 people are diagnosed with cancer¹ and approximately 60% of those patients would benefit from receiving radiation therapy² as part of their treatment plan. Unfortunately, the high cost and complexity associated with Radiation Therapy means that many patients across the globe, simply do not have access to these life-saving and life-extending treatments. That is why the team at Leo Cancer Care is determined to make radiation therapy more accessible than ever before. In this blog, we will share our vision to bring technology solutions that are smaller, more streamlined and more sustainable.

Smaller

Leo Cancer Care’s Particle Therapy solution, named Marie™, is looking to change the way radiation therapy is delivered to improve clinical outcomes and patient experience. By removing the need for a large rotating gantry and instead utilising a fixed beam and slow patient rotation in the upright orientation, Leo Cancer Care has been able to make particle therapy machines much smaller than ever before. Reducing the size and complexity of these treatment machines makes Leo Cancer Care’s particle therapy solution more affordable than current solutions in the market place and the reduction in expensive moving parts makes maintenance a lot simpler and more affordable.

Did you know?

  • Our Marie™ Particle Therapy solution is around 15 times smaller than the average gantry solution

  • The space needed to install one of our Marie™ solutions is only 4.7m x 4.3m, meaning no need for major construction works and minimal disruption during installation

But we are not stopping there, our Photon Therapy solution named Ruby™ will again treat patients in the upright orientation, rather than in the horizontal orientation and can come fully shielded, meaning no need to spend money on shielding a bunker. This solution is small enough and lightweight enough that it has the possibility to fit on the back of the lorry, meaning in the not too distant future radiation therapy could hit the road and reach people who may not currently have access to this life-saving and life-extending treatment. 

Streamlined

As mentioned previously the reduced size and complexity of the Marie™ solution means it is much simpler to install, this means that hospitals who chose to install a Marie™ solution won’t have the significant downtime associated with installing conventional particle therapy solutions. This means that our solution could generate a whole year of additional revenue for the hospital and start treating patients much sooner. This is great news for patients improving their access to radiation therapy and would help hospitals deal with the backlog of cancer patients awaiting radiation therapy due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Another benefit of having patients positioned upright is the significant reduction in time needed to set up the patient for treatment. Patients can walk into the treatment room, take a seat in the upright patient positioning system, the therapist can immobilise the patient and then move the system into the correct position for treatment using the systems controls. The patient setup process is a lot quicker in the upright orientation and is likely to only need one therapist in the room whereas to position patients in the supine orientation requires two therapists, the leveraging and positioning of the patient on the traditional supine couch can require significant effort on behalf of the therapist, because of the effort required to support the patient to lay down onto the couch many therapists suffer from significant back pain and sometimes even need to take time off of work. Positioning the patient in the upright orientation is both easier and faster and leads to improved patient throughput and less staff resource required in the treatment room.

Sustainable

We pride ourselves on being “the more human way to deliver radiation therapy” and we believe that we need to live by this in all that we do. That is why we are taking our approach to sustainability more seriously and are developing new business procedures regularly to ensure that we are doing our bit for the environment and our local communities.

We are developing products that are built for the economics of the future. By reducing the size of these machines we are making radiation therapy more accessible than ever before to ensure that everyone who needs radiation therapy can have access to it. We have plans to make our photon therapy solution, Ruby™, completely mobile, meaning a mobile unit could be driven and parked where it is needed most. By offering institutions a more cost-effective way to install and deliver radiation therapy and by implementing mobile units Leo Cancer Care is looking to reduce the number of patient miles travelled in order to receive treatment which in turn should reduce CO2 emissions whilst also making hospitals and cancer centres more efficient than ever before.

The reduced footprint of the Marie™, Particle Therapy solution and less complex design means fewer materials are needed to construct and install, this also leads to a reduction in ongoing maintenance and running costs. Because of the reduction in machine size and complexities less energy is consumed by the Leo Cancer Care solution that means improvements in efficiencies through reduced emissions and power consumption needed to run and cool the system.

Leo Cancer Care also works hard to support their local communities and source materials from local suppliers wherever possible. They also recruit from the local areas and have a number of graduate positions within the business where they offer local graduates their first step onto the career ladder.

Stay Tuned

In this blog, we have highlighted just a few of the reasons why Leo Cancer Care’s upright radiation therapy solutions are making radiation therapy more accessible than ever before. By making their technology smaller, more streamlined and sustainable they are building solutions that are built for the economics of the future, with improved efficiencies for healthcare institutions and reduced impact on the environment.

The “Radiation Therapy in Reach for All” series will take place throughout January, February and March so stay tuned to find out more via Leo Cancer Care’s  “Radiation Therapy in Reach for All” page and social media pages:

*Please note Leo Cancer Care products have not yet been FDA approved or CE marked.

References:

¹ https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/cancer/

² https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/radiation-therapy/0/steps/48181

 
BlogsFiona RedfordRadiation Therapy, Radiotherapy, Proton Therapy, Particle therapy, Photon Therapy, Smaller, Streamlined, Sustainable