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Page layout image - CIGNA leaf beside headingThe London Clinic Cancer Centre: breaking the mould in cancer care

 

The London Clinic Cancer Centre stands impressively in the heart of central London on Harley Street. Linked to the main hospital through an underground tunnel, the astonishing 8 storey building sparks of “innovation”, “cutting edge” and “tranquility”. It’s clear that every minute detail of the facility was considered during the design. Forget feeling like a patient in a hospital – here you are a guest.

So, what makes this facility so incredible? In short, it comes down to 2 factors: patient experience supported by the very latest in technology. Let’s take a closer look…

The patient experience

Everything in the centre is designed to make the patient’s stay as comfortable and stress-free as it can be.

The centre uses therapeutic colours, natural daylight and timber finishing to provide a restful, relaxing environment. You can’t help but feel peaceful and calm when walking through the facility.

Fresh photography and art hang on the walls - wherever you go you’re kept in touch with the outside world through images and natural daylight, even in the basement areas through an atrium.

Rooms are personal and bright. Each room has been ergonomically designed. With floor to ceiling windows, each room boasts InTouchTM media tables giving patients TV, internet, phone, films and much more, all at their fingertips. At the touch of a button blinds open and shut and little lights twinkle on the ceiling like stars. Everything encourages patients to feel in control.

Bedside medical technology is just as impressive – medical-record logging equipment can be accessed by patients and family on the flat-screen TV, or shared directly with a family doctor in the UK or abroad.

The latest technology

The London Clinic Cancer Centre has nothing to be shy of when it comes to technology. With the very latest in radiotherapy, radiosurgery and imaging equipment, it’s one of the first hospitals in the UK to offer two world leading technologies for patients:

1. The Varian Trilogy™ system with RapidArc
2. The Cyberknife™ Robotic Radiosurgery System

Trilogy system

This system, often used to treat larger tumours, uses RapidArc technology to deliver radiation at much greater speed. It delivers radiation directly into the tumour to kill cancer cells and obliterate or shrink their size. This technology lowers the risk of surrounding healthy tissues being damaged.

RapidArc is delivered with a medical linear accelerator. This is a large machine that generates high-powered X-rays and sweeps around the patient lying on a treatment couch. The entire radiation treatment is completed in a single rotation.

The big advantages of using RapidArc are it represents a major medical advance in patient comfort and treatment accuracy. This is because patient treatment times are shorter - you don't have to hold still for long, and can be in and out in a matter of minutes for each session.

CyberKnife™

CyberKnife™ is the first of its kind. It’s a state-of-the-art robotic machine which lets patients receive cancer treatment without having to go through surgery.

The sophisticated robotic machine uses pencil beams of radiation. The robotic arm allows these beams to be directed anywhere in the body from any angle. The really clever bit is that it will automatically alter its positioning before targeting the tumour. It does this by looking for any movement from the patient or the tumour while monitoring its position.

The beauty is that it is pain-free, drug-free with no need for recovery time – in fact patients are usually able to go home the same day. This means it’s even suitable for patients who are too ill to cope with surgery and its side effects. Patients only typically need between one to five sessions.

Both the Trilogy system and CyberKnife™ are incredibly innovative pieces of equipment. But these don’t rule out other treatment methods. For example, The London Clinic Cancer Centre can provide chemotherapy and surgery in combination with radiation and radioisotope treatments.

Breaking the mould
The London Clinic Cancer Centre truly represents innovation and patient experience at its best – design and technology fused perfectly together to offer a genuinely holistic and progressive approach to treating patients with cancer.

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