2023-06-07 17:04:00
As the number of patients suffering from cancer increases, a third machine has been installed at the polyclinic in order to deal with the treatments to be put in place.
A third particle accelerator for the treatment of cancers by radiotherapy has been installed on the Center site of the Polyclinique de l’Ormeau. With this advanced technology, patients benefit from more precise treatment, while better protecting sensitive organs such as the heart. This project was led by the medical team of the Pyrenees Radiotherapy and Oncology Group. It comes to improve the offer of care of the territory in the fight once morest cancer. Doctor Guillaume Peyraga presented this new machine called Halcyon.
La Semaine: What will this new machine bring?
Guillaume Peyraga : Today, we are inaugurating the third machine which makes it possible to treat patients by department in the department. It is an innovative machine of the latest generation. For decades we had two accelerators. Cancer activity is increasing. Screening is growing. There are more and more cancers. They are treated better and better, therefore people live longer and therefore there is a need for more and more treatments, of which radiation is a part.
To optimize patient care, to treat them as quickly as possible, it was important for the Ormeau clinic to have a new machine.
“We were with two just-in-time machines. We mightn’t work from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The objective is therefore to be able to treat all patients…
We were with two just-in-time machines. We mightn’t work from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. A third accelerator was therefore installed. This allows us to be able to treat patients calmly and as quickly as possible and with a quality that is even better because this 3rd accelerator is of the latest generation. There is better processing accuracy. There are fewer side effects which means a better quality of life too.
Since when did she arrive on site?
This new machine arrived at the Ormeau polyclinic on Monday February 27, 2023. There was snow! It was quite funny and dangerous to bring her in with a basket. It had been ordered a year ago following a call for tenders. We did business with an American company that sells 80 to 90% of radiotherapy machines in France. In its look, it looks a bit like a scanner but in its execution not at all. This is an investment of nearly 5 million euros. The oldest of our accelerators will be changed next year. He is regarding ten years old. We rotate regarding every 10 years. The second accelerator was installed a little over 5 years ago.
“One accelerator can treat 50 patients a day. This one, which is of the latest generation, will make it possible to treat 60”
How many patients can be treated by such machines?
An accelerator can treat 50 patients per day. This one, which is of the latest generation, will make it possible to treat 60 of them. A patient stays on this machine for 10 minutes. This can take 20 minutes for special treatments where the patient’s breathing is managed. We are now able to meet the demand. Before the arrival of this 3rd machine, we felt that it was tense. This is why we did not hesitate for a second to invest. This allows us to maintain quality and above all to respect processing times. We cannot tell a cancer patient that we are going to wait 3 months to start treatment. No time should be wasted. It is necessary to be able to start the treatments following the various consultations following one month. Without this machine in the year, we knew it would have been difficult to cope.
“The vast majority of cancers affect people who are beyond retirement”
Are there more patients to treat?
All cancers progress for several reasons. First, because we are living longer. Second, because we detect them and track them better. And certainly also because there are more factors in the environment, in our daily lives that lead to more cancers. We manage to have screenings that are developing well, such as breast cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer… The vast majority of cancers affect people who are beyond retirement. Here, we treat all cancers except pediatric cancers which affect children who are treated by referral centres. They are exceptional and it requires extensive expertise to treat them. There, you have to go to Toulouse and Bordeaux.
How is your team made up to operate these machines?
We have several trades. There are doctors who initiate the treatment. We then have electroradiology technologists who do the scanner in order to prepare the rays and who will do the rays on a daily basis. But before arriving at the rays, we have the dosimetrists, the physicists and the secretaries of course. We have around fifteen electroradiology manipulators to run the three accelerators (5 per machine). We have 4 physicists and 3 dosimetrists.
What do you think of artificial intelligence and are you already using it?
It is already a daily help, especially when we prepare the treatments. It facilitates our work even if it is always necessary to check. You have to master artificial intelligence. When it is mastered and used wisely it saves time and above all it is better in the end!
What more does this new generation machine have?
Its look is different but what is most important in its difference is that it allows daily repositioning. To treat well to the millimeter, images must be taken in order to position the patient before the treatment. This machine allows you to do a kind of scan just before each session to be able to position the patient correctly and see if the tumor is in the right place. The other two machines can do a scan once a week and do X-rays on a daily basis. With the new machine, daily repositioning is better and more precise. The technological push on these machines arrive no wave. There was one regarding ten years ago. There is a news today.
“Bravo and thank you”
Doctor Bernard Couderc, creator of the oncology center at the Clinique de l’Ormeau in 1972 and which he directed until 2012 said a few words: “It is with great emotion that I find myself in this treatment room where radiotherapy began 50 years ago in Bigorre. At first we were a very small team. In this room, many patients were treated. I have for them and for my deceased colleagues an affectionate thought and particularly strong memories. I know, dear Guillaume, that you had the delicacy to keep the very beautiful fresco that was in this room and that you are going to reinstall it in a meeting room. You have been able to develop in the triangle Pau – Tarbes – Lourdes and well beyond, an exceptional offer of care in radiotherapy for patients from Bigourdans, Béarn and even Gascons. You have a very high-tech technical platform with 6 latest-generation particle accelerators: 3 in Tarbes and 3 in Pau and with a team of top-notch men and women to pilot them. In short, it is the level of excellence. You are proving that with a lot of goodwill and intelligence, there is room for large-scale projects in two regions, Occitanie and New Aquitaine when, like you, we know how to cross borders. Congratulations for this success and thank you for all the patients affected by cancer. “
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