The future of oncology is in imaging

The benefits of improved imaging for patients are obvious. Stokkel says, “We are increasingly able to visualize smaller lesions. That’s very important for staging cancer. This improves our ability to indicate where the tumor is, how far the disease has progressed and what treatment is needed.”

Ruers says, “Those spongy tumors we couldn’t find were our Achilles’ heel. A PET scan or MRI pointed out the tumors without fail, but we couldn’t find them during surgery. Now we do have the ability to treat these patients. And because we have a better view of where to cut, we get fewer complications.”

The increased sensitivity of the digital PET/CT scanner helps reduce costs and can also help improve patient care. Stokkel says, “There’s a discussion here – do we go for shorter scan times with the same activity, or do we reduce activity and keep the same scan times?”

The Netherlands Cancer Institute has had a Master Research Agreement with Philips since 2011, and both Stokkel and Ruers have high expectations for this collaboration. Ruers says, “We want Google Earth-levels of imaging. We want more information about a person’s disease. Working with a commercial party, it’s much easier to get from a vision to a tangible product.” Stokkel says, “We see many possibilities for image analysis, but we don’t have all the tools we need. Software development and implementation is essential, and Philips can help us with that.”

The Master Research Agreement is just one of the many ways the Netherlands Cancer Institute invests in the future of oncology. The institute is also part of the international consortium developing the MR-Linac system for image-guided radiotherapy.

Of course, technology is not what it’s all about. Ruers says, “If we want this to lead to improvements for patients, we need to walk this road together. We’ve taken our first steps with Philips.”