Patients benefit from tattoo-less treatments

Thousands of patients receiving radiotherapy at University Hospitals Dorset no longer need to have permanent tattoos to accurately mark the target site for their treatment.

Radiotherapy involves a beam of radiation aimed at a tumour to kill it. As it can damage non-cancerous cells, the procedure involves complex planning to ensure the right dose is delivered at the exact site it is needed, with a series of small tattoos traditionally used to help guide this.

However at Poole Hospital, patients are now treated on one of three ‘surface guided’ radiotherapy treatment systems which use a series of cameras and image sensors to create a skin map of the individual patient instead. Combined with detailed treatment planning scans, a target site is 'locked' so if a patient – and their tumour – moves, it turns off the beam.

David Frost, head of therapy radiography at UHD, said: “One of our trust values in ‘always improving’, and here at UHD we are using the latest technology to do that for the benefit of our patients. While the tattoos assisted our treatment, they often had a negative psychological impact on our patients and were a permanent physical reminder of being unwell. For some of our patients it was also the first tattoo they ever had.

“This surface guided technology is quicker, more accurate and can allow a reduced imaging dose for our patients, reducing the level of radiation. Going tattooless is a fantastic milestone for all of us to reach.”

Patient Ola, with the radiotherapy team

The tattoo-less treatment is not commonplace in the NHS, and in many parts of the UK can only be offered in private centres. UHD is the first trust in the south west to offer the service, and the team also manages a fourth system from The Robert White Centre at Dorset County Hospital, in Dorchester. The centre is named after multi-millionaire businessman Robert White, who gifted Poole Hospital more than £10m to advance cancer treatment in the county before his death in 2015.

While the trust has been using the surface guided radiotherapy for two years, the team has gone tattooless for all cancers for the first time.

Ola Williams is one of the patients benefiting from the new treatment. He said: “Having cancer can be really unsettling and while you feel grateful for the treatment, it feels really positive not to have to go through another process – in this case having a tattoo.”

UHD carries out around 25,000 radiotherapy treatments each year, and the team supports around 130 patients every day. Some 210 new patients start their treatment every month, attending the department for five treatment session each week.

Josh Naylor, physicist in the department, said: “We get to know our patients really well during the course of their treatment and the feedback has been really positive. We’re really proud to be able to offer this to them and look forward to more improvements that benefit our patients in the future.”