Elekta Brachytherapy U.K. & Ireland Users Meeting draws experts and visionaries for high level presentations

Approximately 100 Elekta brachytherapy users and U.K. and Ireland Elekta personnel convened at London’s Institute of Physics in October to participate in the company’s annual Brachytherapy Users Meeting, UK & Ireland. An increasingly important treatment option for individuals with cancer, targeted and precise brachytherapy enables doctors to treat their patients’ cancer from the inside – either as a standalone therapy or combined with external beam techniques.

Symposium attendees are all users of brachytherapy solutions manufactured by Nucletron, an Elekta company, whose brachytherapy afterloaders, applicators and treatment planning software systems are used by 60 percent of hospitals worldwide.

The annual conference featured presentations on a wide variety of brachytherapy applications, including brachytherapy for cancers of the skin, breast, prostate and cervix. Talks of particular interest included:

• Evolution of TRUS [transrectal ultrasound] HDR Prostate Brachytherapy Using Oncentra Prostate (v4) by Peter Bownes, of St. James’s Institute of Oncology (Leeds, U.K.)
• Early Follow Up Data for Patients Treated with Interstitial HDR Brachytherapy for Breast and Prostate Cancer, by Orla Brosnan, Mater Private Hospital (Dublin, Ireland)
• An Audit of the First 25 Patients Treated using 3D Image Guided Brachytherapy (3DIGBT) for Cervical Cancer at CCO, by Louise Gately, of Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology (Clatterbridge, U.K.)
• MRI Brachy Planning at The Royal Marsden, by Katy Taylor, of The Royal Marsden (London)

Arjen van’t Hooft, Elekta’s Vice President Brachytherapy Solutions, Region Europe, Africa, Latin America gave a talk titled “Brachytherapy: Future Developments,” which included information on connectivity with Nucletron’s microSelectron Digital afterloader.

“This added connectivity allows the treatment record and chart information – in addition to dose and structure sets – to be part of the complete patient record, saving time, simplifying workflow and creating a paperless flow of brachytherapy practice information,” he says.

The Elekta brachytherapy users meeting was very well received among participants, van’t Hooft adds, judging by some of the comments:

“The meeting was very well organized and I particularly enjoyed the practical product demonstrations,” says Nadia Salama, Southend University Hospital.

“The users conference had a nice mix of clinical and physics topics,” adds Karen Bew, Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. “It was also good to have many Elekta representatives there to join in the discussions.”