As part of Netcare's commitment to sharing best practice and keeping healthcare practitioners abreast of the latest clinical and technological advances, Netcare Oncology hosted five stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) and stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) workshops across the country in June. The keynote speaker for the workshops was Dr Mohsen Javadpor, a senior clinical lecturer at Trinity College in Dublin and consultant neurosurgeon at the Beaumont Hospital in Dublin.
The free workshops, which were accredited for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) through the University of Stellenbosch, were attended by oncologists, neurosurgeons, ENT (ear nose and throat) specialists, physicists and other healthcare professionals involved in SRT and SRS.
"Specialists at Netcare hospitals have been performing SRT and SRS for nearly 20 years and in 2009, Netcare N1 City Hospital was the first centre in South Africa to treat a patient using stereotactic body radiosurgery, also known as extra-cranial radiosurgery," notes Theresa Roux, business manager: Netcare Oncology. The technique uses advanced technology to accurately deliver radiation to tumours in the lungs, liver, spine, pancreas, kidneys and prostate over a very short period with extremely high accuracy.
The workshops also focused on intra-cranial SRT and SRS, which is used to treat brain lesions, including benign tumours like meningiomas, acoustic neuromas, pituitary adenomas and vascular malformations, as well as malignant tumours like metastatic brain tumours and recurrent malignant brain tumours.
In addition, doctors at the workshops were introduced to iPlan Net, an internet-based treatment planning system for SRT and SRS which enables specialists to gain access to their own patients' treatment plans through an individualised access password. iPlan Net technology enables medical professionals from many different disciplines and based throughout the world to access, review and share treatment plans of their own patients with one another (without disclosing their patients' identity) at any time for learning purposes, making the process highly interactive and collaborative.
"Other topics that were discussed during the workshops included the evolution of radiosurgery to frameless, the clinical and technological advances that have changed the profile of radiosurgery over the last 15 years, and the development from 'add-on systems' to integrated solutions offering non-invasive/frameless treatment options. A number of case studies involving the treatment of brain tumours were also conducted. These kinds of workshops prove invaluable to doctors as they give them the opportunity to share what they have learned from their own cases and, in doing so, help develop best practice," concludes Roux.
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Issued by: Martina Nicholson Associates (MNA) on behalf of Netcare Oncology
Contact: Martina Nicholson, Graeme Swinney, Sarah Beswick or Jillian Penaluna
Telephone: (011) 469 3016
Email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected]