DOHA: Minister of Public Health H E Abdullah bin Khalid Al Qahtani yesterday officially opened a facility with a high treatment technology for cancer, in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the National Center for Cancer Care and Research (NCCCR).
‘CyberKnife M6 FIM Suite,’ is first of its kind state of art facility to open in the region and is a state-of-the-art, revolutionary treatment technology for cancer that provides a compact radiotherapy linear accelerator mounted on a computer-controlled robot that can move in three dimensions around the patient.
It is able to treat tumors anywhere in the body more accurately than any other treatment machine so that higher doses can be delivered with less effect on surrounding tissue. H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Saoud Al Thani, Governor of Qatar Central Bank and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Sports and Social Activities Support Fund (Daam), Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani, Chairman and CEO of Al Faisal Holdings and Dr Hanan Al Kuwari, Managing Director of Hamad Medical Corporation were also present during the official opening of CyberKnife M6 FIM Suite.
Dr Al Kuwari said: “We are very proud to have the new CyberKnife Suite at Hamad Medical Corporation. This adds to our already comprehensive range of radiation treatments for cancer and will mean a speedier recovery with fewer side effects for our patients. Our mission is to continually ensure that cancer patients in Qatar have access to the most advanced radiotherapy treatments, in line with those offered within the best cancer centres in the world. The implementation of this new service will have many benefits for patients and is a major boost for the NCCCR as an international centre for medical excellence.”
Dr Noora Al Hammadi, Senior Consultant Radiation Oncologist and Chair of Radiation Oncology, said the technology gives cancer specialists new options for treating difficult tumors. CyberKnife will work in conjunction with state-of-the-art CT, MRI and PET machines that provide three dimensional imaging technology and are available at the NCCCR, to accurately map the location and extent of the tumors.
This imaging is used by radiation oncologists to precisely map the tumour in three dimensions and determine the dose required.
This information is then fed into the CyberKnife computer to programme the robotic arm so that it delivers radiotherapy doses from many directions, always with a laser focus on the tumour site.
During the treatment procedure, a separate integrated image guidance system works with the robotic arm so that it moves in synchronisation with the patient’s breathing, ensuring sub-millimetre accuracy of treatment delivery. “Because the machine is continually recording images throughout treatment and moves with the patient’s breathing, any movement changes will be recorded and the system can correct itself,” said Dr Al Hammadi. “This means tumours can be targeted with greater accuracy than was previously possible,” Dr Al Hammdi added.
The Peninsula
