Photo credit: Varian Medical Systems
The Carlo Fidani Regional Cancer Centre at Trillium Health Partners (THP) is the first hospital in Central Canada to treat patients using HyperArc cancer treatment technology and the first in Canada to use it to treat patients with more than four brain metastases. This innovative technology delivers stereotactic radiosurgery for brain metastases and helps to improve the patient experience by reducing treatment time and the number of visits for patients. It also increases THP's treatment capacity and efficiency.
"We are proud to be the first cancer centre in Central Canada to use this innovative technology, and the first in Canada to treat patients with more than four brain metastases," said Dr. Anthony Brade, Division Head of Radiation Oncology, Trillium Health Partners and Regional Radiation Oncology Lead, Regional Cancer Program. "HyperArc will not only improve patients' experience but it will help us ensure we have the much-needed capacity to deliver high quality, safe and efficient cancer care to the growing community."
The HyperArc hardware and software platform delivers precise radiosurgical treatment to multiple brain metastases (tumours that develop when cancer spreads to the brain) in a single treatment visit. Prior to HyperArc, the available technology allowed treatment of one metastasis at a time, often requiring multiple visits to the hospital for patients with more than two or three metastases. Using HyperArc, THP has reduced its average treatment time per metastasis from 40 minutes to four minutes, representing a tremendous improvement for patients in terms of time spent at the hospital.
"The treatment was so quick and easy to go through," said Terena Burton, one of the first patients at THP to receive treatment using HyperArc. "It's amazing to be able to have all those spots treated in one visit so close to home. I would have been facing five or six hours of treatment in three visits otherwise. I'm so impressed with the radiation team at Trillium Health Partners."
The THP radiation program operates six linear accelerators and faces a significant capacity challenges. It is a highly efficient program, delivering treatment to ~630 patients per linear accelerator annually, 90% higher than the provincial average of ~330, while operating 13 hours per day, 27% higher than the provincial average of 10.2 hours daily. THP has developed a multi-pronged strategy to address capacity, of which the implementation of HyperArc is an important component. By significantly reducing the treatment time for each patient, HyperArc technology will increase capacity on the linear accelerators used for radiosurgical treatment and reduce impact on hospital resources.
"We are committed to finding innovative ways to improve the patient experience and their quality of life when treatments such as this are required," said Dr. Joan Murphy, Vice President, Patient Care Services, Oncology, Trillium Health Partners and Regional Vice President, Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario). "We know how important it is to ensure patients' access to timely treatment to support those who need high quality, accessible and sustainable cancer care to support their health journey."