An advanced cancer treatment machine that decreases the risk of radiation side effects will be used on a patient in Australia for the first time today.
Radiation oncologist Alex Tan has been treating Mr Koch since his diagnosis and said the technology decreased the risk of radiation side effects because it was targeted and required fewer sessions.
"We can give the treatment much more quickly and a much higher dose, hopefully with better results and fewer side effects," he said. "In theory, the side effects are the same as with a normal machine, but because we can deliver the treatment more accurately to a smaller volume of tissue, the side effects should be less than a normal machine."I think this will give us the opportunity to do a lot more than what we've been able to do before, and that will allow us to advance the dose and the technique that we use.
"It's something which hopefully will spawn across the country and make this treatment available to many other patients."About 120 patients will be able to use the machine in Townsville in its first year of operation. The hospital put in a tender for the machine in 2017, with the equipment and installation costing the State and Federal governments $10 million.
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