The QuickStart Program at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre is the first in the world to offer women with low-risk breast cancer treatment planning and delivery of the first radiation treatment – all in one day. Patients are able to benefit from a more efficient and minimally disruptive radiation therapy (RT) process.
Implemented in 2010, the award-winning program utilizes an automated intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment planning software and the clinical expertise of a multidisciplinary radiation team to streamline the breast RT process.
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QuickStart patients typically receive their first radiation treatment within 24 hours of their initial CT scan, reducing the treatment waiting time by about 11 days compared to the traditional process. The program offers breast cancer patients the same high quality and effective radiation treatment as the traditional process, but without the wait-time.
It is now a standard treatment option offered to women with early-stage breast cancer through the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre's Radiation Medicine Program.
The QuickStart team - Grace Lee, clinical specialist and radiation therapist; Dr. Tom Purdie, medical physicist; Dr. Anthony Fyles, radiation oncologist; and Dr. Anne Koch, radiation oncologist and Breast Site group lead - is actively working to expand the program.
The team hopes to share its innovative model of care worldwide to make the cancer journey more efficient for all patients, so they can return to their lives as soon as possible.
For more information about the QuickStart Program, visit their website
here.
