We have lift off! £1m machine will make Castle Hill hospital a ‘world-leading’ centre for cancer diagnosis
STATE-OF-THE-ART CYCLOTRON LOWERED INTO BRAND NEW RESEARCH CENTRE
THE arrival of a 30-tonne £1m machine at Castle Hill Hospital on Sunday will pave the way for Hull to become a “world-leading” centre in cancer diagnosis, say medical experts.
A crane was used to lift the huge piece of equipment off the back of a lorry as it arrived at the Cottingham hospital on Sunday morning, before being lowered onto a brand new centre for research which will open next year.
The PET-CT cyclotron can create radioactive particles with extremely short half lives, which can then be injected into people next door to detect cancer growth.
The state-of-the-art technology has to be on the site due to particles’ short half lives meaning they cannot be transported - but it could also be used to detect heart disease and even neuro-degenerative conditions such as dementia.
Onlookers watched as the huge components for the machinery were lifted over the roof of the admin building to the loading bay at the new Molecular Imaging Research Centre (MIRC) at Castle Hill, which has cost approximately £5m to build.
There is also a further £3.5m worth of equipment on site, with the huge project has been fundraised by local charity the Daisy Appeal.
They will then be assembled over the next two weeks, with doctors hoping the technology will be up and running in the new year.
Prof Steve Archibald, Professor in Molecular Imaging at the University of Hull, said the cutting-edge technology would make Castle Hill one of the top centres in the UK - and internationally - for cancer diagnosis, and would also bring more jobs to the region boosting the economy.
“The provision of cutting-edge cyclotron technology in Hull elevates us to the level of a handful of clinical sites in the UK,” he said.
“When combined with our expertise and our own unique technology, [it] will enable us to deliver improved clinical imaging to diagnose and monitor treatment response in cancer, cardiac and neurological patients.
“The technology will also improve our research, which is already internationally competitive, and attract clinical trials to Hull to further improve standards of patient care.”
The machine’s arrival follows off the back of campaigning from the Daisy Appeal, which is working to develop these “dose-on-demand” radiotracers allowing for better detection and personalised treatment for patients with cancer, heart disease and dementia.
Daisy Appeal founder and
Chair, Prof Nick Stafford, said the arrival of the GE Healthcare GENTRACE 600 cyclotron was “a very exciting day for the charity and the healthcare community in our region”.
“The delivery of the cyclotron really sees the whole PET-CT project finally coming to fruition,” he said.
“The MIRC will become operative next year, at which point patients will benefit from our ability to manufacture personalised radiotracers tailored to the requirements of their disease on site.
“The cyclotron puts us in the
top tier for this work in the UK and also opens up the opportunity for us to make carbon-based radiotracers which have exciting new applications in cancer, cardiac and neurological imaging.
“It is a very exciting day for the Daisy Appeal and the healthcare community in our region.”
The Daisy Appeal has raised more than £20m to fund cuttingedge research and state-of-the-art equipment and facilities.
Hull-based construction company Hobson & Porter built the Jack Brignall Centre and the new MIRC, which is due to be formally handed over to the charity later this year.
Claire Levy, Daisy Appeal fundraiser, said: “The Daisy Appeal has already brought enormous benefits to patients from across the Hull and Humber region with the Medical Research Centre and the Jack Brignall Centre, and the delivery today of a cyclotron is another huge step forward.
“We are grateful to all the businesses, communities and individuals who have played a vital part in helping us to reach this milestone, but the journey continues.
“We are closing in on our target of £8.5m to complete the MIRC and we will then focus our efforts on meeting the substantial running costs.
“We would like to hear from anybody who can help us, whether with sizeable corporate donations or small amounts from community events because, as we have demonstrated over the past 20 years, it all adds up”.