The National Centre for Eye Proton Therapy, part of The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust’s Wirral campus, is a world leader in the treatment of rare eye cancers. The advantage of proton treatment is that the penetration depth of the 60 MeV proton beam can be controlled and only has a maximum range of 31 mm in water, making it suitable for treating any position within the eye and, in many cases, preventing the complete removal of a patient’s eye.

Patients require four treatments over four consecutive days that each take just 20 minutes. Key to the success of that treatment is a small brass component called a collimator, which is tailor-made to shape the beam to cover a specific tumour, while protecting the surrounding area. These collimators are now being machined using a new XYZ 500 LR vertical machining centre, in a cycle time that is 95% shorter than before.

Prior to treatment, a patient has the affected eye scanned to precisely identify the size and position of the tumour. Following conversion of the scan into a DXF file, a Siemens CAD reader generates tool paths for the XYZ 500 LR. From receiving the scanned data to finished part now takes between 15 and 20 minutes (against more than two hours previously), with less than seven of those minutes actual machining time.

This significant time saving has two major benefits. First, it frees-up time in the workshop to carry out other tasks, and second, on those occasions where a quick turnaround is required, it is possible to complete machining of the collimator in the time it takes the radiographer to set-up the proton beam machine and prepare the patient for treatment.

For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com