ST GEORGE Hospital can now treat breast cancer patients in a way that reduces radiation dosage to the heart and lungs.
Prone breast radiotherapy reduces radiotherapy induced toxicity to the organs in the chest and skin by as much as 85 per cent.
It is delivered with the use of a $20,000 breast board donated to the hospital by the Australian Macedonian Medical Society which raised the money for the Access ClearVue breast board at a gala at Doltone House, Sylvania, on October 4.
Prone breast radiotherapy is mostly for women with larger breasts and left-sided tumours, and is offered at very few public hospitals in Australia.
The breast board looks like a massage table on which women lie face-down (prone position).
Royal North Shore Hospital is the nearest centre in NSW to offer the treatment.
Acting director of radiation oncology at St George Hospital Peter Graham said the breast board had been on the department's "wish list" for quite some time.
Society president and ear, nose and throat specialist Zoran Becvarovski said money raised at the gala was also donated to the St George and Sutherland Medical Research Foundation.
