Radiation Oncology

Radiation Oncology

The Brunei Cancer Centre Radiation Oncology unit is a specialist radiation therapy centre, utilizing on the latest and modern equipment to ensure that we are at the forefront of radiation therapy, providing each individual patient with the highest quality treatment. Our radiation therapy team includes highly skilled and experienced professionals, working closely with the hospital’s surgeons and medical oncologists in a multidisciplinary tumor boards to ensure that the best treatment approach is design for each individual patient.

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy is a form of cancer treatment that uses ionizing radiation (x-rays). Radiation therapy is often used in conjunction with other treatment modalities, such as surgery and chemotherapy. Like having a chest x-ray, pain is not associated with radiation therapy treatment.

In modern radiation therapy, treatment is administered daily over a number of days or weeks. Majority of our patients who come to The Brunei Cancer Centre for radiation therapy treatment will only spent, on average, approximately an hour, and be able to resume their usual activities.

The Brunei Cancer Centre accepts referrals from GPs and Specialists to this service.

3D Conformal Radiation Therapy (3DCRT)

A conventional treatment technique that involves using a computed tomography (CT) scan to specifically design each treatment plan for each individual patient using an advanced treatment planning system (TPS). The aims of using 3DCRT is to exploit the potential to spare more volume of healthy tissues while increasing the dose to the tumor or planning target volume (PTV) via geometric field shaping using static multi-leaf collimators (MLCs).  

How can our team of professionals help you? 

Our consultant radiation oncologist may use the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or positron emission tomography (PET) to help identify the exact location of the treatment area in order for the medical physicist to design the required number of radiation beams from different gantry angle including shaping of static MLCs to precisely target the treatment area with uniform intensity across each field. Your individual treatment plan will then be delivered everyday over a period of several days or weeks on the linear accelerator (treatment machine) by our radiation therapists. You will also be supported by a range of other professionals including nurses and allied health practitioners. 

Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT)

Image guided radiation therapy (IGRT) is the use of x-rays to acquire images much like the chest x-ray and CT scan, just before, during and after treatment to ensure that the tumor is precisely targeted by our radiation beam. IGRT is always used in conjunction with many different types of the radiation therapy treatment here at The Brunei Cancer Centre including: 

• 3D Conformal Radiation Therapy (3D-CRT) 
• Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) 
• Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) 
• Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) 
• Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) 
• Adaptive radiation therapy 

How can our team of professionals help you? 

During the first day of your treatment which is often referred to as verification day, our consultant radiation oncologist, medical physicist and radiation therapist will work together to ensure a high levels of set-up is reproduced by precisely matching the images taken before the treatment to the planning position in digital reconstructed radiograph (DRR). Patients will be set-up by our highly skilled radiation therapist using three reference points marked by tattoos and immobilization devices to help minimize movement during the treatment.  A shift from the reference position to the target treatment area is then calculated and performed by our radiation therapist. Finally, our team of professionals will assist you in every step of the treatment to ensure that the treatment is delivered as intended. You will also be supported by a range of other professionals including nurses and allied health practitioners.