Here’s an overview of some of the key topics that were discussed at the HBI conference in Paris, and how the landscape of brain tumour treatment is evolving.
At the recent Healthcare Business International (HBI) conference in Paris, Amethyst Radiotherapy CEO Stéphane Carré discussed the future of cancer care with other leading experts in the field of oncology. Here’s an overview of the important topics that were raised, and how the landscape of brain tumour treatment in particular is evolving.
Stéphane spoke about the increasingly central role that public-private partnerships (PPPs) are playing in oncology care. As public healthcare systems across Europe, including the NHS, are placed under tighter budgetary constraints, PPPs are seen as an efficient solution.
For example, private healthcare operator Amethyst Radiotherapy now manages two radiotherapy centres of excellence to provide Gamma Knife surgery, both located within NHS hospitals and providing care to both NHS and private patients.
The NHS in England is currently under significant pressure as it tackles waiting list backlogs, rising demand, staff shortages and historic underinvestment. PPPs can ease the strain on NHS resources and provide alternative options for both healthcare managers and patients.
By combining resources, knowledge, infrastructure and technology, the UK public and private healthcare sector will be able to offer patients the most cost-effective and innovative cancer care. This leads to improved patient outcomes and ensures that cancer care in the UK is fit to meet the demands of the future.
Gamma Knife surgery is considered to be one of the safest and most effective treatments for certain types of brain tumour. It is particularly well suited to treat acoustic neuromas, meningiomas, pituitary tumours, and some metastatic tumours (secondary brain tumours that have spread from another part of the body).
The treatment is not a conventional surgery that involves incisions, but is a type of radiation therapy that is delivered from an external machine. The name Gamma Knife was chosen to express the high degree of precision involved in the delivery of the gamma rays. Multiple beams of electromagnetic radiation are targeted from different angles at the tumour site.
Individually, the beams are too weak to damage the healthy cells as they pass through the skull, but when they intersect at the specifically targeted area, they effectively destroy the tumour cells while causing no damage to the surrounding brain tissue.
This provides a minimally invasive procedure that has a much lower risk of serious side effects than conventional open brain surgery. Gamma Knife treatment can usually be delivered in one session and has minimal downtime, so it can be a much less stressful and time consuming treatment option than other types of surgery for brain tumour patients.
For both the NHS and the private sector alike, it also boosts time and resource efficiencies, allowing for faster treatment pathways and ultimately increasing the capacity for first-class brain tumour care.
Although rapid advancements have been made in the field of brain cancer care in recent years, the sector still faces significant challenges. These include rising demand as there is a growing awareness of potential brain tumour symptoms among both the public and GPs, leading to earlier diagnosis and thus more referrals to specialist healthcare teams.
The population of the UK is ageing, with about 10 million people currently over the age of 65 (18 percent of the overall population). Meanwhile, the number of people aged between 65-79 is expected to rise by a third to over 10 million by 2070. Age is one of the risk factors for a brain tumour, so there is expected to be a corresponding rise in diagnoses.
At the same time, financial pressures in both the public and private healthcare sectors are driving the demand for a sustainable and efficient model for the best quality of care.
Despite the growing challenges in the field of brain cancer treatment, technology is providing new opportunities and driving innovation. For example, AI and machine learning are being used to interpret MRI scans to provide a much more accurate and quicker annotation of tumour boundaries.
When carried out manually, this process is painstaking and time consuming, and subject to the variabilities of human interpretation. AI-driven auto-contouring for tumour segmentation is proving to be equally as effective as manually produced annotations, particularly for more complex and diffuse tumours that do not have clearly defined boundaries.
This means that patients can benefit from more timely and precisely delivered radiation treatment, with reduced risk of effects and complications, and a higher chance of a successful outcome.
If you would like to find out more about Gamma Knife surgery, please contact one of our team today.
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