In 2013, BRIGHT helped to fund the provision of a new Papillon radiotherapy machine at the St Luke’s Cancer Centre at the Royal Surrey County Hospital.

The hospital is the first in the south of England to offer this kind of treatment and its introduction is part of the ongoing programme to maintain the hospital as a centre of excellence for bowel cancer treatment.

The Papillon machine offers a unique form of radiotherapy treatment and is suitable for some early stage rectal bowel cancer patients.

Patients with very low rectal cancer would traditionally have been treated with major abdominal surgery, involving a life-long colostomy bag.

Treatment with the Papillon machine offers an alternative to this life-changing surgery. It provides contact radiotherapy, which means patients can receive a higher radiation dose with less risk of damage to the surrounding tissue.

If you would like more information about Papillon treatment or to find out if it might be a suitable option for you or someone you know who is suffering from early stage rectal cancer, please contact consultant clinical oncologists Dr Alexandra Stewart at the Royal Surrey County Hospital.

Dr Alexandra Stewart
Contact Royal Surrey County Hospital switchboard and ask for Dr Stewart secretary

Private Secretary: Mrs Felicity McConnell – felicity.mcconnell@genisiscare.co.uk

07899 734658

 

 

Click to visit the Papillon Contact Radiotherapy website

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Mr Prebble (age 87, from Haslemere, Surrey), pictured above, was one of the first patients treated with the Papillon machine at the Royal Surrey.

“I was already scheduled to have the major surgery and a colostomy bag when a scan revealed that conventional radiotherapy had shrunk the tumour to a level which made me an ideal candidate for Papillon treatment. It was a great relief to me and my family that I didn’t have to go through major surgery at my age. The treatment itself was fairly straightforward and I had very few side effects. I can’t thank Dr Stewart and the rest of the team at the St Luke’s Cancer Centre enough for offering this option to me.”