THE Beacon Centre at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton has introduced an innovative new radiotherapy technique for delivering breast cancer treatment to patients.

Musgrove has become the first hospital in the UK to complete the HeartSpare II study and the new technique is based on research aimed at improving radiotherapy treatment for women with left-sided breast cancer, by reducing the risk of long term complications to the heart.

Patients undergoing breast radiotherapy are usually treated lying on their backs and breathing freely. Great care is always taken to treat as little healthy tissue as possible.

But studies have shown that voluntary ‘breathholding’ techniques – where patients are coached to hold their breath for around 20 seconds, whilst undergoing radiotherapy treatment – may reduce the amount of heart tissue exposed to x-rays, as the act of breathing in pulls the heart downwards and backwards away from the radiotherapy treatment beam.

Musgrove’s research and development radiographer, Simon Goldsworthy, said: “We have achieved so much through participating in the HeartSpare II study: we are delighted to be able to say that we have implemented the breath-hold technique as standard practice for all left-sided breast cancer patients.”