Specialist radiotherapy for lung cancer patients reaches milestone
A patient at Southend Hospital has become the 50th to receive a specialist form of radiotherapy to help treat lung cancer, without the need for surgery.
Known as SABR (Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy), it has been offered at the hospital since 2017 and is an effective way of treating small, localised cancers almost anywhere in the body.
Dr Abby Cyria c , consultant clinical oncologist and SABR lead, said: “It means we can deliver a very high dose of radiotherapy to a small area of lung with less side effects. It is a very precise treatment with a chance of curing or controlling early lung cancer, almost similar to surgery, and is able to be given to patients who are not fit or not suitable for surgery.
“In appropriate lung cancers we treat to cure the cancer without the need for surgery, and have been delighted to treat our 50th patient.”
That patient is Per Solberg, from Brentwood. The 85-year-old said: “I’ve received three courses of treatment and it has all been totally painless. The staff here have all been amazing and very friendly.”
Previously, patients from Essex had to travel to central London every day to have this treatment, and now the team that have made it such a success in Southend are hoping to start using it to treat other types of cancer as well.