Small Device, Big Impact: Delivering Faster Results at Shaw Cancer Center

This article first appeared in the 2025 Annual Update >

Shaw Cancer Center recently acquired a myOSL reader, which measures dosage during radiation therapy, a treatment commonly used for skin cancer and certain breast cancers. Having the reader in-house now enables the care team to receive radiation dose results within 20 to 30 minutes, rather than waiting a week.

Measuring Radiation Dose

An OSLD (Optically Stimulated Luminescent Dosimeter) is a very small disc—about the size of a cell phone SIM card—that measures radiation dose. During treatment, the disc is placed directly on the patient’s skin, where it absorbs the electrons delivered. Afterward, the disc is placed into Shaw’s new myOSL reader, where an onsite medical physicist can determine the exact amount of radiation that the patient received. Previously, discs were sent away to a lab, and it often took a week to receive results, which delayed treatment customizations. After the OSLD has been read, Shaw’s physicist bleaches it with light, allowing the OSLD to then be used again.

The Impact of Faster Results

Because most patients undergo radiation therapy over five consecutive days, waiting a week for results meant that treatment adjustments were delayed. Now the physicist can provide same-day feedback to Shaw’s Medical Director, Dr. Patricia Hardenbergh, enabling her to adjust a patient’s dosage for the next day’s treatment.

“With the myOSL reader, we can adjust dosage right away, allowing us to fine-tune treatment for our patients receiving radiation therapy,” said James McCulloch, Shaw’s medical physicist. “We are so lucky to have this tool. It improves quality and safety of our treatments in real time.”

Philanthropy played a vital role in providing Shaw with the myOSL reader.