New technology introduced to treat various types of cancers in Oman

Muscat: The National Oncology Centre of the Royal Hospital launched the first advanced therapeutic technology in the Sultanate to treat cancers that have spread to the lung, liver, and spine as determined by the supervising medical staff.

The delivery of the new technology, called stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) aims at promoting patient response to treatment, and minimising patient’s pains experienced in advanced-stage of tumors, in addition to improving the quality of patients life and their engagement in basic daily activities.

The procedure, said Dr. Thuraya Al Hajri, Head of Radiotherapy at NOC, is enhancing the effectiveness of conventional treatment. It pinpoints the exact location of a tumor so that the radiation can be more precisely delivered to cancer cells in a way that minimises damage to healthy tissues.

Al Hajri emphasised that the department is acquiring the state-of-art equipment and devices while keeping pace with latest advanced technologies in the radiotherapy domain.

Eqbaal Al Aamri, Head of the physiatrists at the department pointed out that the Center’s physical medicine team performed tests and measurements of the radiation doses used to treat patients. Since the procedure requires very intense doses of radiation, it was necessary to ensure safety and quality of the used devices in addition to the accuracy of the therapeutic planning used before starting the treatment of any patient as per international radiotherapy standards.