New robot delivers cancer treatment at The Alfred
A procedure which delivers chemotherapy directly into a patient’s liver tumours was performed by a state-of-the-art robot named ‘Magellan’ at The Alfred this week.
The Magellan robot allowed Alfred doctors to target liver tumours and deliver high dose of chemotherapy directly into the patient’s tumours.
Interventional Radiologist, Dr Gerard Goh said he had elected to use the Magellan robot in this case for a number of specific reasons but noted that it would not be suitable for all cases.
“In some cases the tortuous anatomy of the arteries to the liver make standard treatment via hand controlled catheters impossible or extremely time consuming.
“The Magellan robot allows us to have more fine precise control with a robotic catheter to navigate these tortuous arteries – in some cases the Magellan allows us to offer treatment to patients who otherwise could not receive treatment by the standard catheter technique.”
Dr Goh said the procedure is quite novel and had only been performed around 20 times at The Alfred, since the Magellan had arrived 18 months ago.
“We are the only centre in the Asia-Pacific region to have a Magellan robot and there are less than 40 of these robots in the world.”
For further information on this procedure, please contact your oncologist or GP. Note that the procedure is viable for patients who are able to have transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE).
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