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Ottawa Citizen

This $10 million machine treating cancer patients researchers call an 'engineering marvel'

Article content After years of planning and months of set-up and trial runs, radiation specialists at The Ottawa Hospital are now treating cancer patients with technology that gives health professionals a kind of '20-20 vision' to more precisely target cancer cells. Article content The Ottawa Hospital, which has one of the largest radiation departments in North America, is among a handful of hospitals in Canada with the technology that combines MRI imaging with a radiation machine for more precise treatment, including when tumours move. Article content Article content Article content The $10 million MR-Linac machine was delivered to the hospital's cancer centre at the General campus almost a year ago. In June, the first patient was treated using the technology. Article content Article content The advanced technology will make a difference to patients, including those who couldn't previously receive radiation treatment safely. Article content Dr. Miller MacPherson, the hospital's head of medical physics who shepherded the new technology, calls it an 'engineering marvel'. Article content For physicians, it allows more accuracy in treating patients, especially those with the kinds of cancers that can be difficult to treat, said Dr. Marc Gaudet, who heads the division of radiation oncology at The Ottawa Hospital. Those include cancers in areas that move or change shape or are close to something critical, such as cancer in the lungs, liver, pancreas, and prostate. Article content That movement can make radiation treatment more difficult, said Gaudet, especially since CT scans are usually taken days prior to radiation treatment. Radiation is typically done with a 'safety margin' added, he said, to account for any movement. Article content Article content The new equipment allows for radiation targeting with real-time images, he said, which allows for greater accuracy and fewer side effects for patients. It also opens the door to treatment for some patients who couldn't previously receive radiation safely. Article content Article content He described it as akin to having 20-20 vision when it comes to seeing and targeting cancer. Article content 'It makes it much tighter and much more precise,' said Gaudet. 'The tighter we can make the radiation, the fewer side effects come into play. And if we make it tighter and tighter, we can also give more radiation safely.' Article content Radiation treatment, he said, is a delicate balance between being able to give patients a dose that is enough to cure the cancer but can be tolerated. Article content 'This allows us to push the envelope quite a bit because you know exactly what you are aiming for,' said Gaudet.