MOSkin device to decrease radiotherapy side effects in cancer patients

8 Aug 2013

Patients may experience fewer side effects from radiotherapy and have a reduced risk of developing secondary cancer now that a device called MOSkin can detect how much radiation patients are exposed to during the treatment.

Researchers from the University of Wollongong (UOW) in Australia have developed the technology. Prof Anatoly Rozenfeld, director of the Centre for Medical Radiation Physics at UOW, is the inventor of MOSkin.

HealthCanal.com quoted him as having said that while contemporary radiation therapy is accurate, quality assurance during treatment is paramount because overdoses can increase the probability of secondary cancer and induce chronic or acute side effects, such as the skin condition erythema.

MOSkin, which measures radiation amounts in a non-invasive manner in real-time, has won a  Commercialisation Australia Skills and Knowledge Grant to help commercialise the technology.

The device has been developed into prototypes for various radiotherapy treatments, and more than 20 hospitals, cancer centres and research institutions worldwide have trialled MOSkin.

“This technology has been developed over 10 years of research, and we have received very positive scientific and clinical testing results,” Rozenfeld told HealthCanal.com.

“We are pleased that both its technological value and commercial value have been acknowledged by a Chinese patent and the commercialisation grant.”

Oncology department equipment image via Shutterstock.com

Tina Costanza was a journalist and sub-editor at Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com