Sydney’s Inner West welcomes world-class prostate cancer treatment
Concord New South Wales – GenesisCare has today announced the availability of a cutting-edge treatment option for patients in Concord living with prostate cancers.
Stereotactic ablative radiation therapy (known as SABR) is a highly accurate, non-invasive type of radiation therapy that targets both the tumour’s connective tissue and DNA, helping to rapidly kill the cancer cells.1
GenesisCare Radiation Oncologist, Dr Mark Sidhom, said: “SABR allows clinicians to precisely deliver a high dose of radiation directly to the tumour with sub-millimetre accuracy, destroying cancer cells while preserving surrounding healthy tissues.2
“This is especially important for cancers located near other sensitive organs, such as prostate cancer, as it can help to protect the healthy cells and minimise side effects.”
Prostate cancer is the state’s most commonly diagnosed cancer in men,3 accounting for more than a quarter male cancer diagnoses in New South Wales.4 An estimated 1-in-5 men will be diagnosed with disease by the age of 85.4
For approximately 50 per cent of all cancer patients, radiotherapy plays an important role in the treatment pathway, used with curative intent and in pain and symptom management.
“SABR enables us to deliver treatment in five sessions, compared to the 20-40 sessions required with conventional radiation therapy, significantly reducing the physical and emotional burden of treatment for our patients,” said Dr Mark Sidhom.6-8
Acting General Manager of Oncology in NSW, Edel Shovlin said: “At the height of COVID-19 globally, we saw a significant uptake in the use of stereotactic radiation therapy and hypofractionation as these treatments reduce the number of visits patients are required to make to hospitals and centres, allowing them to spend as much as time as possible in the safety of their own homes.”
“GenesisCare is steadfastly committed to ensuring men across NSW receive rapid access to the latest advancements in treatments for prostate cancer and the best possible life outcomes.
“In NSW we offer a regional travel package for our stereotactic patients where we cover the accommodation costs for rural patients, as well as free transport to and from the accommodation to our centres,” said Edel Shovlin.
Prostate cancer patients will now have to this new treatment option at the GenesisCare Concord centre.
In addition to the SABR treatment, prostate cancer patients can access free allied health services including physiotherapy before, during and after their treatment. Other allied health services on offer include patient psycho-education sessions, speech pathology, dietetics and clinical psychology.
