The management of cancer care has improved tremendously over the last decade. Innovative technology helps with early diagnosis, and a range of treatment options such as radiation therapy target the disease with increasing precision - sparing healthy tissue and enhancing the quality of life for patients worldwide.

Yet more needs to be done, and we at Philips are busy making an impact in the fight against cancer throughout the health continuum: from prevention to diagnosis to treatment and home care.

One area of focus is radiation therapy. This field has seen a lot of development in recent years, with sophisticated imaging and software that allows clinical teams to create high quality, personalized treatment plans.

Philips is in the unique situation that we produce imaging and treatment planning equipment whose open architecture make them compatible with most of radiation therapy devices, whether for conventional radiotherapy or for proton therapy. That allows us to integrate much of the functionality between these devices to streamline the process of patient care from the first appointment to the treatment follow-up.

The benefits are easy to see: busy departments can increase their efficiency, built-in communication between tools helps achieve consistent treatment quality and patients spend less time waiting. Instead of waiting several weeks from simulation to the start of the treatment, treatment can now start within a day or two after the simulation.

These are not minor changes for patients: It reduces adverse effects that may occur through additional weeks of waiting, like perhaps a lack of appetite or sleep.