90-ton Emmeline could one day save your life...
SHE is called Emmeline, is the size of a small car and weighs the same as a jumbo jet.
Today the high-tech piece of equipment will be lowered into position at The Christie hospital by a 300ft crane into a 35ft bunker.
The 90-ton proton beam therapy machine, the ‘cyclotron,’ marks a major milestone in a national NHS plan to provide high-energy proton beam therapy in the UK.
The treatment, a specialist form of radiotherapy, has been offered overseas to NHS patients who are eligible for treatment in England since 2008.
But the arrival of the machine at the world-renowned Withington cancer treatment centre means from August 2018 NHS patients will be able to receive the treatment in the UK for the first time. The University College London Hospitals (UCLH) NHS Foundation Trust will follow in summer 2020. When complete they will each treat up to 750 patients every year.
Proton beam therapy is a type of radiotherapy that targets certain cancers very precisely, increasing success rates and reducing sideeffects. It targets tumours with less damage to surrounding healthy tissue and is particularly appropriate for certain cancers in children who are at risk of lasting damage to organs that are still growing.
While The Christie and UCLH centres are being built, all clinically eligible NHS patients will continue to be funded to travel overseas for treatment with NHS England’s established partner centres in America and Switzerland.
Made in Germany, the Christie machine has been called ‘Emmeline’ in recognition of Manchester suffragette leader, Emmeline Pankhurst. It is only the 14th to be built.
Roger Spencer, chief executive of The Christie, said: “To be able to offer the world’s most advanced form of radiotherapy through the NHS in the UK is a real step-change for patients, ensuring they benefit from local access to this advanced form of treatment, with potentially better outcomes and less chance of long term side effects. The arrival of the cyclotron is a huge milestone for the proton beam therapy project and brings us closer to the ultimate goal of being able to offer this treatment to patients next year.”
Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: “The Christie is a beacon of hope for people with cancer and their families. This new facility is another crucial step forward in beating this disease, and to have it here in Greater Manchester – the first of its kind in the UK – is just fantastic.”