State-of-the-art Surface Guided Radiotherapy to benefit Addenbrooke’s patients in Cambridge
A new type of radiotherapy that cuts treatment time, increases accuracy and is more comfortable for patients is now being offered at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.
Surface Guided Radiotherapy (SGRT) uses specialist cameras to create a unique 3D outline of the surface of a patient’s body.
Radiotherapy uses powerful X-rays to treat cancers. Usually tattoo marks and X-ray images are used by therapeutic radiographers to ensure patients are positioned correctly. They then monitor patients carefully during treatment to ensure they stay in the correct position.
The new technology helps them move a patient into the correct position more precisely and quickly, and can be used to automatically interrupt treatment if the patient is no longer positioned correctly - something that is usually a manual task.
And it means there is no requirement for tattoo marks and less X-ray image exposure for patients.
Cambridge University Hospitals, which runs Addenbrooke’s, has spent £4million on two new TrueBeam linacs fitted with the innovative SGRT system and plans to roll out to a third linac machine at a later date.
Surface Guided Radiotherapy is initially being used to treat patients with breast cancer and from January 2026 patients will no longer need permanent tattoo markings.
Colourful artwork and view panels, funded by Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust, have also been installed to provide a calm environment for patients.
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital’s NHS Foundation Trust (NNUH) are also offering the service to patients in the region.
Andrew Robinson, head of radiotherapy physics at CUH, said: “We’re excited there will now be two centres in the East offering this advanced technology to patients. The SGRT system intuitively provides our radiographers instant visual feedback when setting up patients before treatment. Our teams have worked hard over the summer to test and train on the system, and it is rewarding to see our patients benefitting from the increased accuracy and efficiency of SGRT.”
Therapeutic radiographer Jo Thomas, clinical operational manager at NNUH, said: “SGRT is a complete game changer for patients, and we are so excited to be able to use this new technology. Patients don’t need to be handled and moved by us as much, they’re in the treatment room for a shorter time, and it’s much nicer not to have a tattoo, because they’re not left with a visual reminder of a really difficult time, after their treatment has finished.
“The technology is cutting edge. If a patient coughs or sneezes and moves, more than a set tolerance, the beam will cut out and treatment will stop, so that the treatment is only delivered to the intended target. Previously we had to rely on watching patients from outside the treatment room.”
Sixty-one-year-old Diane Pyle, from Tacolneston in Norfolk, was the first patient to have SGRT for breast cancer at NNUH.
She said: “Having experienced both methods of treatment, I am really pleased and honestly a little excited to have been the first person to have benefitted from the new SGRT. It’s less hands on, there’s no need for pen marks or permanent tattoos and it’s much quicker for me and the really wonderful staff delivering my radiotherapy.”