May 20 2010  |  News Article 

Agreement will aid the institute in the development of treatment techniques for head and neck, breast, lung and prostate patients using rotational therapy 

Nucletron recently signed a two-year reference site agreement with Professor David Thwaites and Mr. David Fox of the St. James’s Institute of Oncology, Leeds, part of the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. This will bring Oncentra  Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) optimisation and planning technology to Yorkshire. 

The technique has already been trialled by the Institute’s Radiotherapy Physics Department using the proven VMAT capability of Elekta Linear Accelerators.

Professor Thwaites comments, “We hope to be treating our first VMAT patient in the very near future.  Not only will this technique offer an improved quality of treatment for patients, but it has the potential to do this with reduced radiation doses delivered to healthy tissue in patients and also significantly  reduced treatment times.”

The reference site agreement will aid the St. James’s Institute of Oncology in the development of their treatment techniques for head and neck, breast, lung and prostate patients using rotational therapy.

Nucletron UK’s Sales Manager, Andy Clarke says, “This could signify a big leap forward in cancer treatment in Yorkshire, paving the way for its adoption in many other centres in the UK, due to the software’s independent nature.   Building on our IMRT solution (Oncentra Optimiser), we now have a completely independent solution for Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy. Oncentra VMAT provides clinicians with next generation planning capability, including support for single arc, dual arc and skip arc techniques for compatible Varian and Elekta accelerators.” 

Oncentra is part of Nucletron’s ‘Oncentra Dynamic Planning Environment’, an open modular system that supports multiple treatment modalities. Within one planning environment, users can easily compare arc plans to standard IMRT plans, as well as to other radiation treatment modalities such as proton therapy and brachytherapy, to evaluate and choose the best treatment options for patients.




Shown here (left to right) Professor David Thwaites, St. James’s Institute of Oncology, Mark Hitchman, Managing Director, Nucletron UK and Mr. David Fox, St. James’s Institute of Oncology