Gifu Prefectural General Medical Center to provide first-ever ‘SGRT’ radiation therapy in Japan

image credit- shutterstock

Accuray Incorporated announced that Gifu Prefectural General Medical Center is setting a new standard in cancer care in Japan as the first hospital in the country to treat patients with surface-guided radiation therapy (SGRT) using the company's Radixact Radiation Delivery System and VitalHold package. The technology will play an important role in the hospital's plan to expand patient access to high precision radiation therapy treatments.

SGRT is designed to help medical care teams to effectively position the patient and confidently monitor the accuracy of that positioning throughout treatment. The ability to confidently monitor also enables the deep inspiration breath hold (DIBH) technique, which is often used in left breast cancer treatment to help protect the heart from radiation. During treatment with SGRT, high resolution cameras continuously monitor a patient's breathing and position in real-time to create a 3-dimensional map of a patient's skin. The image enables medical care teams to easily visualize the difference between the current body position and the target position, helping to ensure the patient is appropriately positioned when radiation is delivered.

"We are delighted to announce the commencement of our hospital's use of the Radixact System with VitalHold. In our efforts to enhance the availability of radiation therapy delivered in our department, which has long been a challenge, we have constructed a new building, introduced the Radixact System and will initiate treatments with the Accuray CyberKnife S7 System at a later date. One of the reasons we decided to switch from an older C-arm linear accelerator, which we have been using for many years, to the Radixact System, is to take advantage of the unique benefits of helical imaging and delivery in combination with the capabilities of VitalHold," said Yuichi Kajiura, M.D., department of radiation oncology, Gifu Prefectural General Medical Center.

VitalHold can help to set up patients faster and monitor the patient's position throughout the radiation treatment. Along with this, employing hypofractionation for delivering increased dose per session are factors that will enable delivery of highly accurate treatments, shared Kajiura.