Central Adelaide’s SABR (stereotactic ablative radiotherapy) program has celebrated its 10th anniversary of treating SA’s first ever patient.
SABR aims to specifically target tumours in the body with high doses of radiation therapy, while limiting the dose to surrounding healthy organs.
Royal Adelaide Hospital’s Radiation Oncologist, Associate Professor Hien Le said the first SABR patient completed treatment on 12th February 2014.
“To coincide with this milestone, I followed up with this man and it was pleasing to learn that he is still cancer free,” A/Prof Le says.
“While he now he is in a nursing home due to advancing age and separate health issues, his story is a testament to the program’s success.”
Since its inception, the SABR program has delivered over 1,330 treatment courses, steadily growing each year.
“Year on year, we’ve seen the program grow which has been wonderful to see,” he says.
A/Prof Le says SABR’s stable growth was a positive sign as it looks forward to implementing the next wave of technology, ExacTrac, into the program later this year.
“This new technology promises to further advance the SABR program, offering even more hope and options to patients in the years to come.”
ExacTrac technology is a patient positioning and position monitoring device to support the delivery of precision radiotherapy with surface and thermal tracking combined with real-time X-Ray monitoring.
The device will enable clinicians to deliver stereotactic radiosurgery, a non-invasive form of radiation therapy which delivers precisely targeted radiation in fewer high-dose treatments than traditional therapies.
Picture caption: The RAH SABR team celebrate 10 year milestone.
