At UZ Brussel, patients with prostate or colorectal cancer can now be treated by MRI-image-guided radiotherapy in five days, instead of four to eight weeks. This is a first for Belgium, according to the Brussels hospital.
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UZ Brussel is the first hospital in Belgium to treat patients with prostate and rectal cancer, among other things, with a groundbreaking radiotherapy treatment via their new MRIdian device. This device combines advanced imaging via MRI scans with targeted radiation to treat tumors better and faster and has fewer side effects for patients.
“The biggest advantage for our patients is that the MRIdian allows to shorten the treatment time. At present, radiation treatment for a patient with prostate cancer lasts four to eight weeks, with short daily radiation. This offers healthy tissue the chance to recover in between. With the MRIdian, the cumulative radiation dose is administered in one week, often with better efficiency and with fewer side effects, because healthy organs are spared,” says Professor Mark De Ridder, head of radiotherapy and coordinator of the oncological care programme.
Prostate and colon cancer are among the four most common cancers, along with breast and lung cancer.
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