AlignRT in breast cancer radiotherapy

The technology described in this briefing is the AlignRT patient position monitoring system. This briefing focuses on its use during breast cancer radiation therapy.

The innovative aspect is that it may avoid inaccurate treatment by precisely tracking a patient's position during radiotherapy and notifying the linear accelerator to hold the radiation beam if the patient moves.

The intended place in therapy would be in a standard radiation treatment room with a linear accelerator. It would be used as an alternative to existing patient location monitoring systems using X‑ray/CT and as an adjunct to radiographer visual monitoring of patient movement.

The main points from the evidence summarised in this briefing are from 4 observational studies involving a total of 228 adults in tertiary care settings in the US and Europe. They suggest that AlignRT is effective in maintaining accurate patient positioning during breast cancer radiotherapy.

Key uncertainties are that there is no evidence from direct comparisons of AlignRT with location monitoring or from studies specifically using AlignRT as the main intervention.

The cost of AlignRT is £150,000 to £225,000 per unit (excluding VAT), plus a yearly service charge of £20,000. The cost per treatment will depend on the throughput per device for the variety of radiotherapy procedures the device can be used for.