A CANCER specialist from Southampton is to become one of only a few in the country to use a revolutionary radiotherapy treatment.

Dr Shanmugasundarum Ramkumar, a consultant clinical oncologist at Southampton General Hospital, has been chosen to fly out to America to learn how to use the groundbreaking proton beam therapy.

He will be responsible for teaching doctors across the south the new treatment, which it is hoped will boost survival rates for cancer patients.

The specialist training has been made possible thanks to the University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute offering Dr Ramkumar a visiting fellowship.

The treatment, which uses high energy beams rather than X-rays to target cancers more accurately and protect surrounding tissue, can be more effective for some patients with rare tumours, such as skull base and spinal tumours, and children with complex cancers, but it is not yet available in the UK.

Patients are currently referred to one of three centres which offer the technique – one in Switzerland and two in the US – but the Department of Health has announced it will oversee the development of two proton beam centres in the UK over the next four years.

Dr Ramkumar said: “While we are planning for the introduction of two proton beam centres here by 2017, there are currently only a few clinicians in the UK trained in delivering the treatment.

“Following a competitive national selection process, I have been selected to travel to one of the lead centres, based in Florida, to gain experience in proton therapy and disseminate that knowledge across the south of England.”

Last year, Dr Ramkumar introduced a similar technique, known as intensity modulated radiotherapy, at Southampton General Hospital to treat head and neck cancers.