Southampton General: Future of radiotherapy machine in doubt
- Published
Mobetron is used on advanced cancers difficult to remove and treat
The future of a "game-changing" device that provides radiotherapy during surgery is in doubt at the only hospital where it is used in the UK.
Southampton General uses Mobetron, a portable device giving intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT), on advanced cancers difficult to remove and treat.
But Planets cancer charity, which pays for the non-NHS funded treatment, has struggled to fundraise during Covid-19.
The device will be returned to the US if the charity fails to raise cash.
The machine costs £10,000 a month and is commonly used in the US and Europe, but more evidence needs to be gathered before it will be paid for by the NHS.
The machine is used during surgery immediately after a tumour has been removed
Southampton General said about 80 patients had been treated with excellent results. Only one patient had seen their cancer return.
Prof Alex Mirnezami, consultant surgeon at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, said: "It's been a game-changer in medicine. It's given us tools to treat them where we didn't really have treatment options before in the past."
Planets CEO Layla Stephen added: "I would be devastated, I'll be quite honest, if it has to go back.
"We've worked really hard for this machine and the whole community benefits, and it benefits every patient that has the privilege of using it on them, so it's a big thing for us."
The charity said it would have to make a decision by December on whether it can afford to fund the machine.
Planets CEO Layla Stephen said Covid had led to fundraising events being cancelled
Using Mobetron, radiation is given by high-energy electron beams delivered to a very specific location inside the body during an operation, usually after a tumour has been removed.
This enables surgeons to deliver much higher doses of the anti-cancer treatment to areas at a high risk of recurrence without causing damage to surrounding healthy tissue and organs seen with conventional external-beam radiotherapy.