Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) has successfully conducted its first Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) using the Varian TrueBeam platform on a 51-year-old female patient MW who had brain metastases with remarkable improvement on her initial prognosis.
SRS is a very precise form of therapeutic radiation that can be used to treat abnormalities in the brain and spine, including cancer, epilepsy, trigeminal neuralgia, and arteriovenous malformations. A system that uses noninvasive tumor-destroying radiation to treat cancers throughout the body as it minimizes exposure to the surrounding healthy tissue.
The TrueBeam technology is precise, accurate and fast, with most treatments taking 5 – 10 minutes, with a patient usually requiring between 1 and 5 treatments. MW required 5 SRS sessions for metastatic breast cancer to the brain.
Dr. Jesse Opakas, Director Hemato-Oncology MTRH, said : “SRS is a minimally invasive, non-surgical radiation therapy that uses precisely focused radiation beams to treat brain tumors, vascular abnormalities, and other brain disorders. It delivers a high dose of radiation to a small, well-defined target area while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissue.”
He added that other systems capable of delivering SRS include Gamma knife, Cyber knife and charged particle accelerator with notable advantages being; minimally invasive, precise targeting of the tumor(s), limited number of treatment sessions and is effective for difficult-to-reach tumors that are inaccessible or unsuitable for invasive surgeries.
SRS treatment can be used as an intervention for brain tumors: Benign and malignant brain tumors, including acoustic neuromas, meningiomas, and metastatic brain tumors; Vascular abnormalities: Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), dural arteriovenous fistulas, and cavernomas, and functional disorders: Trigeminal neuralgia, epilepsy, and movement disorders.
The CEO, Dr. Philip Kirwa, thanked the Government of Kenya, the Ministry of Health, the Board, and Staff for enabling the launch of Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) in MTRH.
"This is an impactful investment that will touch many lives. SRS is a revolutionizing modern oncology and neurosurgery treatment modality. It is a big leap in getting better outcomes for patients, " he reiterated."
SRS is now routinely available at MTRH alongside other radiotherapy treatment techniques such as Volumetric Arc Therapy (VMAT), Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT), Brachytherapy and 3D conformal radiotherapy as well as chemotherapy, and a vast array of surgeries.
With the majority of cancer workloads being in public healthcare institutions, the costs for the procedures are affordable and covered under the Social Health Authority (SHA).
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