A revolutionary ‘Cyber Knife’ radiotherapy treatment for tumours has been unveiled today (Weds) that uses beams of high dose radiation so accurate that it doesn’t harm the surrounding areas of the body.
It has been installed by the Bart’s & The London trust and is one of only three in NHS hospitals in the UK.
The CyberKnife is the world’s first pain-free robotic surgery system which can treat tumours located in all parts of the body with 100 per cent accuracy.
The �2.5 million to pay for it was raised in less than two years by the Freemasons of London through their Masonic trust, in partnership with Barts & The London Charity which supports NHS patients at the Royal London in Whitechapel, the London Chest at Bethnal Green and Bart’s in the City.
The charity’s chairman, Michael Smith, said: “This means patients with historically inoperable or surgically-complex tumours may now be able to benefit from this treatment.”
The charity raises, invests and gives out funds for research and equipment supporting innovative projects like CyberKnife that would not be funded by the NHS. It has put �150 million into the NHS since it was set up in 2003.
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