Radiation treatment for cancer is getting faster thanks to a new machine in Kelowna that is the first of its kind in Canada.
BC Cancer Kelowna has Canada’s first Ethos Adaptive Radiation Therapy Unit, making the treatment process and planning easier and faster.
With both the older machines and the new Ethos machine, radiation treatment only takes 30 seconds to two minutes, but the new machine exponentially speeds up the planning process.
With older machines, the radiation treatment is the same every day, and when, for example, someone’s tumor shrinks, the team of doctors must create a new plan that can take days to develop and implement.
With the new Ethos machines, a new plan, customized for each patient, is built in 15-20 minutes, and the computer immediately begins creating the next plan once the day’s radiation treatment is complete.
“Twelve years ago, you wouldn’t have imagined doing a treatment plan every day,” said senior physical therapist Nathan Becker.
Bachard added that the machine does about 80 percent of the work while they complete the other 20 percent.
Although radiation machines have been around for quite some time, this is the first that is completely new to the industry.
“The older one [machines] are technologies from the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, and they’ve made a lot of additions over time,” Becker said. “This machine was built from the ground up, built to be as streamlined as possible.”
It has been a long process not only for BC Cancer Kelowna, but for cancer centers around the world to use this new technology. This machine received FDA approval in 2020 and Health Canada approval about a year ago. Before it was even approved, downtown Kelowna was considering buying one. When the technology was approved by Health Canada, Kelowna was in line to purchase the machine.
The Kelowna center began training the machine on Dec. 12 and has been treating patients with it for three weeks. While this is currently the only clinical machine in Canada, meaning it’s the only one in use, Newfoundland also has one coming soon, and Vancouver is expected to get two machines either in late 2023 or in early 2024. There are also several hundred machines in use in the United States, and because the technology is still so new, the Kelowna Cancer Center is in constant communication with research groups across America talking about strategies and techniques with the machine and side effects from patient to patient. Five of the devices also have a clinic in Europe.
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In addition to being able to plan faster and do the actual treatment a little faster, the hope is that patients will also experience fewer side effects with this machine. Thanks to the technology, the machine can be more precise, thus affecting fewer organs in the process.
“Because the overall patient experience needs to improve,” Bachard said. “Because you can identify the structures you’re trying to protect every day, we hope that patients will experience fewer side effects and recover faster.” We really don’t know for sure if it will make any difference. It would make sense, but we’ll see that in the coming years because it takes a while before you can really look back and see how the patients did. It doesn’t take long to see how patients do with the treatment, but how they recover and if there are any side effects six or 12 months later.
Whether the machine is old or new, the center is able to treat 30 patients a day, but they hope they can treat more a day with the nech machine. Since it’s still so new, it’s too early to tell.
Each year, the Kelowna center sees 2,700 new cancer patients who need radiation.
And while this machine is the latest and greatest, the older machine is still effective at eliminating someone’s cancer because some machines are tailored for different types of cancer.
“It’s a tool in our arsenal,” Becker said. “You don’t have to have five Ferraris in your garage. It is the Ferrari of our healing machines.”
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A man came to get his treatment, it’s a complicated process with lots of moving parts.
“There’s a lot of people involved,” Yendley said.
Each treatment has at least two radiation therapists, a radiation oncologist and a medical physicist.
With the new machine, patients can go inside and enter the machine to make sure their information is correct, then the team of doctors begins the radiation setup. While the radiation continues, the team is outside monitoring the machine, making sure everything is in place and can see and talk to the patient.
Before the machine arrived, the cancer center renovated the site, including adding a back room specifically for training purposes with the new machine. Because each treatment is time-sensitive, the team performing the operation stays there while the doctors and students who study sit in the back room and can also see the process through the camera through which the doctors watch.
“I think the learning curve is pretty quick right now,” Bachard said. “I feel strongly that we will be able to contribute to these other centers as well with the introduction of new techniques, it’s going really well.”
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BC Cancer Foundation British ColumbiaCanadian Cancer SocietyCancerKelownaOkanagan
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