Cancer treatment: A personalised radiation therapy that uses AI available in India 

(Image: US National Cancer Institute via Unsplash)

Radiation treatment is set to get more accurate and precise for thousands of cancer patients in India with Varian Ethos adaptive therapy, driven by artificial intelligence, now available at a specialised oncology centre in the country.

The new therapy which uses adaptive intelligence based on the patient’s anatomy and the position of the tumour at the time of the treatment is available at HCG Cancer Hospital in Bengaluru. It also has augmented intelligence, a convergence of people and AI working together for better outcomes.

Experts say that adaptive therapy is an evolutionary concept which takes into account the temporal and spatial variability of tumours during the course of radiation treatment.

Using the therapy, cancers of the head and neck, prostate, bladder, abdomen, brain and thorax can be mapped and treated with high precision.

How it works

A novel technique globally and first-of-its-kind in India, the therapy provides the ability to alter the treatment plan based on tumour and anatomical changes.

This technology can capture movements in internal or external anatomy during each treatment, giving insight through the advanced power of AI-enhanced image segmentation and treatment planning, thereby enhancing the pre-treatment plans.

It also applies automated dose accumulation to forecast and monitor treatment progress and raises the treatment ability by making radiation personalised and targeted that gives better outcomes with minimised side effects.

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The adaptive therapy enables dynamic monitoring on the treatment table and during the daily course of treatment since radiation is an ongoing process for nearly 30 days.

It enables clinicians to efficiently deliver an entire personalised treatment in a 15-minute slot which is shorter compared with other treatment systems that take more than 40 minutes, often due to the manual reconfiguration of the treatment.

Its cost for patients may vary between Rs 4,50,000 to Rs 4,75,000 depending upon the location and size of the tumour.

Availability for patients

According to Dr Lohith G Reddy, consultant radiation oncologist with HCG Cancer Hospital, patients evaluated by oncologists elsewhere, and who are deemed eligible with specific indications for cancer treatment on adaptive radiotherapy machine could avail the facility.

He said about 700-850 cancer patients could benefit every year from Ethos technology.