New cancer treatment available in New Zealand

A prostate cancer patient has become the first person in New Zealand to receive radiation treatment using ground-breaking new radiation technology.

He has just completed a 10-day course of treatment at St George’s Cancer Care Centre in Christchurch, using the country’s first MR Linac machine. This new technology allows the radiation oncologist to view an MRI scan showing the shape, position and size of tumours and adjust the direction and strength of the radiation treatment in real time, with the patient in front of them. Its name comes from the combination of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and a linear accelerator (Linac) which directs radiation at tumours.

Traditionally, patients have their tumour scanned with a CT scanner before their first radiation treatment, and these images are used to plan their course of treatment. With the MR Linac, the patient has MRI scans during their treatment.

More detailed, real-time MR Linac imaging means higher doses of radiation treatments can be given with greater precision. This means less risk of radiation affecting surrounding healthy tissue, which can cause side effects. It also means fewer treatments are required – so patients need less time off work or away from home and family. This can be the difference between five treatments over 10 days, instead of 20 treatments over four weeks.

“Cancer treatment is constantly advancing. Every so often there is a transformational change – and the MR Linac is one of those. Having this technology available here makes St George’s Cancer Care Centre New Zealand’s national centre for excellence for cancer treatment,” says Dr Brendon Anderson, Clinical Director, and radiation oncologist.

“This is a major breakthrough for some soft tissue cancers, such as pancreatic cancer. We can now clearly see tumours daily with high-definition MR imagery. Our bodies naturally move as we breathe, swallow and digest and the MR Linac allows us to take that movement into account during treatment.

“A difference of just a few millimetres can have a significant impact. Knowing exactly where the tumour is, in relation to the movement of the patient, gives us a huge advantage in terms of accuracy and precision of treatment,” Dr Anderson says.

“This technology has been developed over the last five years and is truly ground-breaking. We feel immensely privileged to be able to offer it here. Our patients will have shorter treatment programmes and better quality of life throughout their treatment.”

“Initially we are treating prostate cancers using the MR Linac, and we will then start treating other soft tissue cancers.

“We are very excited that the MR Linac now enables us to treat some cancers that were previously unsuitable for radiation treatment. Pancreatic cancer is an example of this.”

St George’s Cancer Care Centre is a joint venture between St George’s Hospital and a group of Christchurch oncologists. The Centre is supported by the St George’s Cancer Institute, which raises funds for equipment and services at the Centre and raised $20 million to purchase the new MR Linac, the purpose-built facility to house it, and two new linear accelerators (one expected to arrive later this year and the other in 2026). The MR Linac purchase was finalised in 2020 and the machine is only the 100^th to be produced worldwide.

“We are excited and proud to have New Zealand’s first MR Linac, says the Centre’s General Manager Caroline Stark . “We are pleased to offer our patients this cutting-edge technology and to continue our vision of leading cancer services in New Zealand”

She says the MR Linac is attracting staff who want to work with the MR Linac. “Word has also reached patients who are researching treatment options and some of those joined a waiting list for treatment on the machine months before it was due to treat its first patient,” she says.