(December 7, 2009) Lewistown, PA - On November 30, 2009, Lewistown Hospital began treating patients at the Community Cancer Treatment Center with advanced technology for intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT). The Center began treating patients using the powerful new Trilogy™ linear accelerator, Eclipse™ treatment planning system and imaging system from Varian Medical Systems, which makes it possible to deliver a wide range of ultra-precise treatments with great speed. Lewistown Hospital is among the first in the nation to deploy this new technology.
“This state-of-the-art system makes it possible for us to treat patients with the most advanced radiotherapy techniques, using the most clinically efficient processes in the world,” said Bernard Rogers, MD, and Radiation Oncologist at the Community Cancer Treatment Center. “It provides us with more versatility and precision than we’ve ever had, for customizing treatments according to the specifics of each patient’s case.”
At the core of the Trilogy system is Varian’s high-powered medical linear accelerator, a machine that rotates around the patient to deliver radiation treatments from nearly any angle. A high-precision system also incorporates a multi-leaf collimator for shaping the radiation beam to match the three-dimensional shape of the tumor, and an On-Board Imager™ device for fast, accurate, real-time tumor tracking and automated patient positioning.
The entire Trilogy system is tied together using Varian’s electronic medical record also called Aria™. This allows for a seem less and secure flow of both patient as well as treatment information from the planning phase through treatment. Because this system is also integrated into the hospital’s overall patient record, physician access to that information will be available when a patient completes their therapy.
“The extraordinary power and flexibility of the Trilogy system assures us that we can design a treatment plan that gives our patients the best and most appropriate treatment possible, and not just something that a more limited device can provide,” said Dr. Rogers. “By combining the most powerful radiotherapy treatment machine with high-quality imaging, tracking, and monitoring devices, Trilogy allows us to deliver the most accurate treatments possible in the shortest amount of time. That translates to better outcomes along with greater patient comfort, since patients spend less time on the treatment table.”
Our goal, with this technology, is to put a cost-effective tool into community hospitals, something radiation oncologists as well as the rest of the cancer team can use to adopt the most appropriate approach for treating each of their patients, without having to buy two separate, expensive machines, said Richard Levy, Chairman and CEO of Varian Medical Systems. “We’re extremely gratified to see this happening in forward-looking treatment centers like Lewistown Hospital’s.
