Perth has a new centre for cancer treatment and a lot more. Dr Karl Gruber and Cathy O’Leary report.
The headline for the recently launched Hollywood Consulting Centre is an advanced radiotherapy system to improve the fight against cancer but that is just part of the story.
The Nedlands clinic also provides services including computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear medicine, real-time X-ray tracking, ultrasound, mammography, breast cancer research and endoscopy services.
It hosts health care providers from a range of specialities including bariatric surgery, cancer care, endocrinology, general medicine, gynaecology, orthopaedics, neurology, urology, palliative care and plastic surgery.
Hollywood chief executive Peter Mott said the opening of the centre was great news for people undertaking cancer treatment in WA, and the addition of 280 extra car bays aimed to make their medical treatment more accessible. The cancer centre was part of a significant expansion of the Nedlands hospital campus.
Breast Cancer Research Centre WA chief executive Carmelo Arto said moving to the new integrated centre meant patients could be offered a suite of additional services at the one site, including access to clinical psychologists and geneticists.
“With all the key players together in one centre we can track the patient’s journey to see if there are any gaps,” he said. “We’re looking forward to where this takes us.”
Among the specialities offered at the centre, cancer treatment is the most prominent, and for good reason. Cancer is a leading cause of death in the state, representing three out of every 10 deaths. Every year, more than 13,300 people are diagnosed with some form of cancer. The condition also kills a significant number of Western Australians. In 2017, there were 4,147 deaths due to cancer.
At the heart of Hollywood’s anti-cancer strategy is WA’s most advanced radiation therapy system, the Elekta Versa HD, featuring a Brainlab ExaTrac Dynamic system. This new system, the only one in WA, promises the delivery of ultra-precise radiation doses targeting cancer cells, while sparing most of the healthy tissue nearby.
GenesisCare radiation oncologist Dr Yvonne Zissiadis said it marked an exciting new development in using the latest precision technology to treat cancer.
“At the end of the day, it is all about patients, and we know that multidisciplinary led care improves patient outcomes,” she said.
“The technology combines revolutionary new thermal-surface camera technology with real-time X-ray tracking to deliver highly precise doses of radiation to tumours of the brain, breast, prostate, neck, lungs, liver and spine.
“The surface-camera technology provides thousands of reference points on a patient’s skin, allowing our radiation therapists to track movements in real-time with sub-millimetre accuracy and eliminating the need for permanent tattoos in many patients.”
One of the first patients to be treated at the new centre is cattle farmer Michelle Fowler from Mt Narryer station in the Murchison, who recently had four weeks of radiation therapy to treat early breast cancer.
Mrs Fowler said her treatment at the centre was seamless and had allayed a lot of her anxiety, and she felt fortunate to have had access to the “one-stop shop”.