The Radiation Oncology Service of the Hospital Universitari i Politècnic La Fe in Valencia, in collaboration with the Department of Electronics of the Universitat de València, has developed a unique and new system that allows the administration of intraoperative radiotherapy without the risk of unforeseen bleeding.
Until this moment, the benefits of radiotherapy in an operation theatre can occasionally be altered by unforeseen bleeding during the operation.
The service of Radiation Oncology (Oncología Radioterápica) has collaborated with the Department of Electronics of the Universitat de València.
Valencia (19/04/19). The Radiation Oncology Service of the Hospital Universitari i Politècnic La Fe in Valencia, in collaboration with the Department of Electronics of the Universitat de València, has developed a unique and new system that allows the administration of intraoperative radiotherapy without the risk of unforeseen bleeding.
Intraoperative radiotherapy consists on irradiating the patient in the moment of the surgery to sterilise the source of the wound. This is made with a very local and selective radiation which limits the potentially harmful volume and avoids the rest of the healthy tissue underneath it.
“We usually treat between 2 and 3 centimetres of depth with electrons, that is, we use a radiation that treats a determined depth and respect the rest of the healthy tissue. The problem we sometimes have is that if we prepare a zone to treat and the team of specialists leaves the room to shoot it, bleeding may happen, causing the irradiated zone to fill with liquid. This obviously modifies the depth of the wound and it consequently does not receive the predicted dose. There is no coming back from this”, has explained Doctor José Pérez-Calatayud, head of the Unit of Radiophysics of Hospital La Fe.
The team of La Fe, along with the Department of Electronic Engineering of the Universitat de València, after checking with other centres which have used this intraoperative radiation, has developed a system to detect bleeding. It will be used from the preparation of the treatment until the phase of irradiation, which benefits the operation process.
Specifically, the detector of bleeding designed uses a capacitive low-cost, energy-efficient sensor, as well as high linearity and easy installation. Thus, this new detector is able to reveal the presence of a volume of liquid when applying the radiotherapy, of a depth of up to 0,5cm, even in difficult cases.
Another advantage, as explained by Professor Enrique Sanchis, from the Department of Electronics of the Universitat de València, is that “it can be directly used with plastic appliers, which makes is suitable for industrialisation, given the easy integration of the sensor in the applier to detect the presence of liquids in the zone to be irradiated”.