Manipal Hospitals launches Radixact System for precise cancer treatment

The technology minimises damage to healthy tissue by delivering high-precision radiation to tumour region which moves with respiration

Manipal Hospitals, India’s second-largest multi-speciality hospital chain, said it has launched the first of its kind advanced Radixact System. It comes with the Synchrony Automatic, Real–time Motion Synchronization Technology, for the precise treatment of cancer patients.

Manipal Hospitals has obtained the requisite license from AERB for Radixact X9 Tomotherapy with Synchrony tumour tracking technology, which is the first machine with this feature in India. Manipal said India is the first developing nation in the world to avail the new Radixact System after the US, UK, Japan and Hong Kong.

“The synchrony technology is expected to revolutionise cancer treatment by significantly lowering the discomfort undergone by cancer patients,” said Dr. Vadhiraja B M, HOD and Consultant – Radiotherapy, Manipal Hospitals. “Synchrony for the Radixact System will provide clinicians with the technology they need to effectively and efficiently treat cancer patients requiring radiation therapy, in whom the tumour moves while breathing.”

Manipal said the Radixact system, with its new generation of Tomotherapy with Synchrony technology, serves cancer patient needs, by far superior clinical results in head and neck, breast, GI (gastrointestinal) and prostate cancers. These consolidate for more than 85 per cent of occurrence.

The System delivers 360 degree rotational delivery for the whole body and CT based daily IGRT (image-guided radiation therapy) treatment with iterative reconstruction. The combined technologies enable the delivery of radiation using a variety of methods. These range from image-guided intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IG-IMRT) to stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) — to treat almost any tumour, even those that move with breathing, precision, accuracy and unprecedented flexibility.

Radiation Oncology team at Manipal hospitals Bengaluru, old Airport Road have treated the first patient in India using Accuray’s Radixact System with Synchrony motion tracking and correction technology. The patient is a 51-year-old lady with a single metastatic lung tumour from renal cell carcinoma. Dr Vadhiraja of Manipal mentioned that the synchrony technology on Radixact 9 system is able to track the tumour in the lung in real-time, which moves with the patient’s natural breathing and automatically adjusts the radiation beam precisely targeting the moving tumour.

This technology helps in minimising the extra margin given around the tumour. It minimises the radiation dose to the surrounding normal lung and finally delivering the highest tolerated dose required to destroy the cancer cells.

Synchrony technology differs from its predecessor by enabling hospital teams to administer highly precise radiation to the tumour region which moves with respiration. It minimises the damage inflicted on healthy tissues surrounding the tumours, which are exposed to high–dose radiation, with minimal discomfort to the patient. As the patient breathes, the tumour tends to move, which can be highly dangerous when administering high dose radiation.  However, Synchrony tracks detects the tumour and corrects its positions all within an adaptive time of 0.3 seconds. It precisely administers dosage, with minimal invasion.