Heavyweight joins fight against cancer

The 10-tonne linear accelerator targets radiation at cancerous tissue, increasing the success rate of treatment and reducing side effects. Photo / Richard Robinson

A heavyweight machine for treating cancer raised the roof at Auckland City Hospital yesterday.

The new linear accelerator, weighing 10 tonnes - about the same as three Asian elephants - was lifted by crane through a hole into a concrete bunker in the Oncology Department.

The hospital's clinical director of radiation oncology, Andrew Macann, said the $4 million machine had been paid for by the Auckland District Health Board and was one of the first of its kind in Australasia.

The accelerator was the latest radiation treatment and would be operational by the beginning of next year.

"It still needs to be assembled and then we have to make sure it's calibrated properly. It will certainly improve our ability to treat people appropriately so it's very exciting."

Mr Macann said the technology targeted radiation to cancerous tissue, increasing the probability of destroying a tumour and reducing unwanted side effects.

"We are always trying to balance the dose we give to the tumour and the dose to surrounding tissue.

"This new accelerator has a CT scan built into it which means we can take images of the patient while they are on the machine and make sure our treatments are as accurate as possible."

The machine is 4m long and 2.6m high, and is one of six similar accelerators at the hospital.

Three therapists will be needed to operate it, and will treat about 30 patients a day.

Mr Macann said the accelerator was replacing an older model, and the hospital would run an evening shift to cover treatments while it was a machine short.