Skip to main content
European Commission logo print header

Mechanical ventilation for radiotherapy

Project description

Novel non-invasive ventilation improves precision of radiological tumor treatment

For treating cancer, radiotherapy targets tumours as accurately as possible, while avoiding damage to surrounding healthy tissue. The greatest challenge is movement caused by the patient breathing during treatment. To guarantee complete tumour irradiation, the tumour and an additional margin of healthy tissue are irradiated. Clinicians are constantly striving to reduce this margin of healthy tissue. The goal of the EU-funded MV for radiotherapy project is to introduce clinically the use of non-invasive mechanical ventilators to facilitate radiotherapy. The ventilator techniques were invented by the project partners and showed great promise in proof-of-concept trials on breast cancer patients. The techniques can safely prolong breath-hold duration in patients beyond five minutes, thereby reducing and regularising breathing movements and improving radiotherapy targeting.

Objective

One of the greatest challenges for modern radiotherapy is ventilation causing motion of tumours and surrounding healthy structures. Technically, modern radiation delivery systems enable in principle very accurate radiation targeting of the tumour and avoiding radiation damage to healthy tissue. However, to deliver sufficient dose to a continuously and irregularly moving tumour, it is necessary to irradiate the tumour with a large margin. Currently such a large margin means irradiating a volume of healthy tissue that is about equal to that of the tumour itself. The healthy tissue damage is itself problematic. But it also prohibits further raising the radiation dose to the tumour to enhance the probability of tumour destruction and thus patient survival.
I have invented the use of non-invasive mechanical ventilators to revolutionise radiotherapy delivery, by prolonging breath-hold duration beyond 5 minutes and by reducing and regularising breathing movements. I have demonstrated this works with breast cancer patients. To support its clinical adoption it is now necessary to train other staff to use mechanical ventilation, demonstrate it works with other cancer patient groups, measure the reductions in internal movement of tumours and healthy structures, show how these would produce superior treatment plans and that all this works in another European hospital. My career goal is for me to use the evidence derived from the fellowship to fund the introduction of non-invasive mechanical ventilators first back in our own department (Birmingham, UK), then for me to lead a multi-centre evaluation trial across Europe and finally to lead its introduction into radiotherapy practice throughout Europe.

Coordinator

ACADEMISCH MEDISCH CENTRUM BIJ DE UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM
Net EU contribution
€ 187 572,48
Address
MEIBERGDREEF 15
1105AZ Amsterdam
Netherlands

See on map

Region
West-Nederland Noord-Holland Groot-Amsterdam
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
€ 187 572,48