Charity funds LED ‘showerhead’ for head and neck cancer patients across Lancaster district and beyond
Use of an LED ‘showerhead’, which is only the second piece of equipment of its kind in the whole of the north west, is now being offered to all head and neck cancer patients at Rosemere Cancer Centre.
Chemoradiotherapy (CRT, chemotherapy and radiotherapy at the same time) leads to oral mucositis (OM), a painfully debilitating and potentially serious complication of treatment, in almost all patients, which often gets worse as their treatment progresses.
With its symptoms of mouth ulcers, sores that can bleed, pain, swelling and throat soreness, it can, in the most severe of cases, even cause treatment to be interrupted.
Photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy, which is recommended by NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) for its proven benefits uses low level lasers or LEDs with near infrared light to painlessly target the
damaged tissue inside the mouth and neck.
It stimulates tissue repair to reduce ulcers, sores and inflammation, easing pain.
Consultant radiographer Lucy Koh and advanced clinical practitioner Rachel Rigby applied to Rosemere Cancer Foundation for the £18,145 needed to buy the PBM unit and a year’s worth of disposal ‘showerhead’ (probe) covers.
Lucy explained: “PBM therapy is proven to reduce OM symptoms and improve quality of life where historically, there has been no effective treatment.
“It has no contra-indications or known side effects and is so easy to deliver that patients, once shown, can administer it themselves at the beginning or end of their treatment appointment.”
Rachel continued: “It only takes about five minutes. There is currently one probe or ‘showerhead’ attached to the PBM unit, which is placed externally against the cheek and lips.
“We estimate around 664 patients a year will now benefit from PBM therapy. We have allocated a clinic room to permanently house the unit with patients able to access the machine independently once given initial training on how to use.
“In the longer term, the aim is to make the machine available to patients using our late effects of radiotherapy disease clinic.
"We also believe the provision of PBM therapy will deliver cost savings to the trust by reducing
the cost of pain management and invasive forms of nutritional support as well as hospital admissions due to OM infections and treatment interruptions.”
Dan Hill, chief officer of Rosemere Cancer Foundation and head of charities for Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are genuinely excited to be able to fund this project. The introduction of PBM
therapy will hugely benefit a significant number of patients, who were having their quality of life seriously diminished by the really miserable, painful symptoms of OM.
“As always, our thanks to our fantastic supporters, who have helped us raise the funds for this very important piece of equipment and enabled Rosemere Cancer Centre to become just the second centre to The Christie in the whole of the north west to offer PBM therapy, which other cancer centres and hospitals nationwide are still working to roll-out in accordance with NICE guidelines.”
Rosemere Cancer Foundation works to bring world class cancer treatments and services to cancer patients from throughout Lancashire and south Cumbria being treated not only at Rosemere Cancer Centre but also at another eight local hospital cancer units across the two counties.