ESTRO 2024 - Abstract Book

S5884

RTT - Service evaluation, quality assurance and risk management

ESTRO 2024

The program was successfully rolled out in March 2018, treating a total of six patients, three brain sites and three bone sites. Data was pulled from a local stereotactic patient database maintained by the RTs, showing the program has grown in the ensuing years. Figure 1. shows the rapid increase in the total number of patients treated per year from 6 in 2018, to 94 in 2022 and 84 as of the first of October 2023. Figure 2 shows the distribution of sites, including the introduction of spine and lung sites in 2019 and soft tissue sites in 2020. An investigation into the total number of patients still requiring travel to metropolitan Melbourne for treatment yielded six patients a year, the majority being liver cancer. This is a substantial drop in patients travelling in past years.

Conclusion:

A stereotactic program was successfully rolled out in our rural centre in 2018, using a networked approach to overcome many of the barriers associated with implementing complex techniques in a rural setting. Initially treating six patients in the first year, the projected number of patients is over 100 for 2023. The program has significantly reduced the burden of travel for the surrounding community, closing the care gap for most radiotherapy patients benefiting from stereotactic radiotherapy in the Albury-Wodonga catchment area. Scheduled future upgrades including contrast CT imaging and triggered imaging on the linacs will allow for the introduction of liver and prostate SBRT respectively, further reducing the gap.

Keywords: Stereotactic,Rural,Network

References:

1. Henry MJ, Jones P, Morrissy K, et al. Radiotherapy in the Barwon South Western Region: A rural perspective. Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Oncology . 2014;58(5):612-617. doi:10.1111/1754-9485.12208