| AN ADVANCED radiation machine recently installed at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) can destroy brain tumours that previously could not be removed using surgery or existing radiation machines.
The new technology could save the lives of up to 200 to 300 more people here every year. Patients also experience less severe side effects when treated with the new system, known as Novalis Shaped Beam Surgery.
Since they began using the new machine two weeks ago, doctors from the National Neuroscience Institute (NNI) and the National Cancer Centre (NCC) have used the machine to treat 14 brain tumour patients.
Previously, many patients with brain tumours who were not suitable for surgery were treated using the gamma knife. Like the new system, the gamma knife involves radiosurgery - using radiation to burn off cancerous growths.
But for some whose tumours were too large or located at the lowest part of the head, even the gamma knife could not help.
The gamma knife involves firing bursts of radiation from a few points on the top of a metal 'helmet', which the patient wears over his head while lying down.
The rays are angled in such a way that they converge at the spot where the tumour is located. But if the tumour is too low, such as at the top of the spinal cord, the rays cannot reach it.
With the new system, developed by German medical technology company BrainLAB, radiation is emitted from a J-shaped machine, which can revolve in a complete circle around the patient's head or any part of his body while he is lying down on an adjustable table.
Radiosurgery is no longer confined to just the top part of the head, but can also be done for inaccessible tumours in the lower part of the head, spine and even other parts of the body, said Dr Antonio de Salles, a visiting expert who has used the new machine for three years.
Dr De Salles is professor of neurosurgery and radiation oncology at the University of California at Los Angeles' (UCLA) medical school.
The new machine also allows for a lower dose of radiation to be given over a few sessions, rather than all at once. This reduces the risk of side effects such as nausea and even sight loss, Dr De Salles added.
For example, 40 per cent of patients with an ear tumour would lose their hearing after gamma knife treatment, but just 8 per cent do so after being beamed by the new system.
The machine can also cauterise tumours up to 10cm wide, much bigger than the 3cm-wide growths the gamma knife can treat.
One of the patients treated here, Mr Allan Goh, an events company manager in his 40s, chose to have his brain tumour removed with the new system rather than surgery.
He said: 'I'm a heart patient, so I was quite apprehensive about surgery. With Novalis, I had the option of non-invasive treatment and I wouldn't have to stay in hospital.'
The NNI treats all patients with brain conditions seen in public hospitals here. About 130 patients each year go under the gamma knife.
It has now been replaced by the new system. NNI's head of neurosurgery, Associate Professor Ivan Ng, believes that it will treat three times as many patients.
Using the new system, the medical centre at UCLA now treats 350 patients a year, almost three times the 120 the institution used to treat three years ago with the gamma knife.
The charges for radiosurgery using the new system are the same as that of the gamma knife: $6,000 for subsidised patients and $19,000 for private patients.
The system is the first part of a new $26 million neuroscience centre housed in SGH - the Khoo Teck Puat-Neuronavigation Integrated Operating Suites - to begin operations. |