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The Papillon Technique

15th August 2008 - Southport Lions Donate £1,000 towards cancer equipment
 

The following press release was issued today by Matthew King, Public Relations Manager for Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust.

 

Neil McQuaid and Chris Leather from the Southport Lions Club came to Southport & Formby District General Hospital last week to present Dr Sun Myint with a large cheque for £1,000 towards the purchase of a ‘Papillon’ machine.

 

Dr Myint said, “We are very grateful to the Southport Lions for their donation, these machines are very expensive, so all donations help. The machines are used to treat certain types of rectal cancer without the need for major surgery. This is clearly much better for the cancer patient as they do not have the added trauma of surgery with its associated risks.”

Dr Myint from Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology, who holds a clinic at Southport Hospital once a week, and surgeon Mr Michael Hershman from Charing Cross Hospital have worked closely together for the past 15 years to develop minimally invasive techniques to treat rectal cancer. The two doctors are now teaching the technique to other cancer doctors.

 

Dr Myint explained: “Up until now there has been little interest in developing non-invasive treatments for rectal cancer except at Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology where we are committed to minimally invasive treatments to give patients more choice.

 

“The treatments we offer are only suitable for patients whose cancer has been discovered early and until now; there have not been many patients in this category. However, with increasingly sophisticated diagnostic techniques, and more screening, we predict that the number being diagnosed with early stage rectal cancer is about to explode. As a result of this, interest in our work from cancer specialists across the UK and abroad, is growing.”

 

The ‘Papillon’ technique

 

Dr Myint uses the ‘Papillon’ technique to treat early stage rectal cancer with no evidence of lymph node spread. He studied the technique in Lyon, France, where it was first developed by Professor Jean Papillon and Professor Jean-Pierre Gerard. This is a form of radical contact radiotherapy which directly targets the tumour.

 

Dr Myint runs a specialist joint clinic in The Liverpool Linda McCartney Cancer Centre to assess patients with early low rectal tumours and offer either of these local treatment options. Often they combine these techniques which achieve over 80% cure rates according to the research undertaken at Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology during the past ten years.

The photograph shows, from left to right, Christine Sheridan, Cancer Services Manager, Southport & Formby DGH, Dr Sun Myint, Lion Neil McQuaid and Lion Chris Leather, of Southport Lions Club

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