Leo Cancer Care and Imperial College London Launch Research Collaboration to Advance Real-Time Tumour Tracking for Upright Radiotherapy

Leo Cancer Care today announced a new research collaboration with Imperial College London, the LhARA collaboration and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust to investigate potential workflows for real-time tumour tracking and radiation dose verification for upright radiotherapy.

The research will be carried out through a collaborative PhD project which is part of MultiSci, Imperial’s Medical Research Council-funded Doctoral Training Partnership. Aligning with MultiSci’s theme of ‘Realising the Power of Big Data to Improve Health’, the project will explore how advanced X-ray imaging, artificial intelligence and automation could be used to monitor tumour motion and verify radiation delivery in real time while patients are treated in an upright position.

The research aims to address one of the key technical challenges in bringing upright radiotherapy into routine clinical practice. By demonstrating accurate tumour tracking and dose measurement in a seated or standing treatment position, the project aims to generate evidence that will support the continued development of this paradigm shift to upright treatment systems.

Building the next generation of radiotherapy

Radiotherapy is recommended for more than half of all people diagnosed with cancer and contributes to around 40% of cancer cures worldwide. Despite continual advances in imaging, treatment planning and delivery, one aspect of radiotherapy has remained largely unchanged for decades: patients are typically treated lying flat.

Leo Cancer Care believes there is an opportunity to rethink this approach.

Treating patients upright has the potential to provide a more natural and comfortable treatment experience for many people while also enabling more efficient, compact radiotherapy systems. Achieving this requires the same levels of accuracy and confidence that clinicians expect from today’s conventional treatment techniques.

This collaboration has been established to help address that challenge.

Advancing precision through imaging and AI

The research will investigate how X-ray imaging can be used to continuously monitor tumour position throughout treatment while simultaneously measuring the radiation dose being delivered.

By integrating artificial intelligence and automated image analysis as research tools, the project aims to identify improvements to the speed and reliability of treatment verification, helping to reduce treatment times while maintaining clinical accuracy.

A key ambition of the project is to achieve the first demonstration of real-time tumour tracking and dose verification specifically within an upright radiotherapy environment.

From research to real-world application

As an industrial partner, Leo Cancer Care will provide access to its research and development facilities at its headquarters in Crawley, including its photon radiotherapy test bunker and linear accelerator photon source.

These facilities will allow experimental validation under realistic upright treatment conditions, capabilities that are rarely available within a traditional academic laboratory.

This close integration between academic research and industrial development is intended to ensure that discoveries made during the project have a clear pathway towards future clinical implementation.

“At Leo Cancer Care we feel very fortunate to bring in expertise from Imperial College London, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, and the LhARA collaboration for this studentship. We share a common goal of improving radiotherapy, and it’s exciting to welcome an early career researcher to join us on this journey” said Tracy Underwood, Head of Translational Research, Leo Cancer Care.

“Not only is this an exciting opportunity to develop upright radiotherapy, it feeds into wider work about improving the accuracy of modern radiotherapy , and so improving outcomes across all patients.” said Dr. Matt Williams, Consultant Clinical Oncologist, (Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and LhARA collaborator).

“MultiSci are delighted to support the PhD student who will be carrying out this exciting research, and welcome Leo Cancer Care as our newest industry partner. The training and experience they will provide truly aligns with our ambition of empowering the next generation scientists to deliver cutting-edge research across the fundamental and applied medical biosciences.” – Professor Laki Buluwela, Director MultiSci MRC DTP, Imperial College London.

“It is exciting to embark on a new phase in the development of the LhARA initiative. Working with Leo Cancer Care and our partners in MulticSci and the Imperial College Healthcare Trust we have the opportunity to contribute to the development of compact, automated, radiotherapy tailored to the patient. The partnership aligns with the LhARA collaboration’s vision to create an ecosystem where co-creation pulls cutting-edge science into clinical practice to the benefit of patient care.” – Professor Ken Long, in the Department of Physics at Imperial College London, who co-leads the development of LhARA at Imperial.

Looking ahead

The project is expected to generate new evidence supporting the safe and accurate delivery of upright radiotherapy while informing the future development of Leo Cancer Care’s technologies.

Results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, scientific conferences and Leo Cancer Care’s network of academic, clinical and industrial collaborators, helping to accelerate innovation across the wider radiotherapy community.

As Leo Cancer Care continues to work alongside leading healthcare institutions and research partners, collaborations such as this reflect the company’s commitment to developing technologies that improve both the patient experience and the precision of cancer treatment.