The Radiation Oncology Center at Holmes Regional Medical Center continues to improve the quality of medical treatment for cancer patients. Acquiring the latest technology plays a large role in this effort. In May, the department upgraded its current equipment by adding a new computer-controlled linear accelerator.
Published in Holmes Heartbeat newsletter by Jan Tucker
The Radiation Oncology Center at Holmes Regional Medical Center continues to improve the quality of medical treatment for cancer patients. Acquiring the latest technology plays a large role in this effort.
In May, the department upgraded its current equipment by adding a new computer-controlled linear accelerator—a machine that produces high energy X-ray beams enabling radiation treatment of deep-seated tumors while reducing exposure to normal, surrounding tissues.
Douglas L. Jackson, MD, medical director of the Radiation Oncology Center, explains, “Because this machine is computer controlled, it enables us to almost completely automate even the most complex treatment. We now have the critical tool necessary for complex three-dimensional radiation therapy, previously available only in a few large academic centers in the U.S.”
David Grisell, DO, a radiation oncologist on staff at Holmes adds, “With conventional 2-D machines, we can aim at a tumor from any angle within a flat plane, forming a sort of ‘halo’ around the patient. With the new equipment, we can aim at the tumor from any direction above or below the halo as well.’ We can treat from multiple directions, at any angle in 3-D space.” By treating this way, normal surrounding tissues receive only a fraction of the radiation dose, and some critical tissues can be spared completely.
The accelerator is a major technological step ahead of its predecessors in speeding up treatment time so more treatment beams can be used in the same amount of time. A computer-controlled “multileaf collimator,” mounted on the machine, replaces the heavy lead alloy blocks previously used to adjust the radiation field to the shape of the tumor.
The multileaf collimator uses many individual motorized lead “fingers” that slide back and forth within the X-ray beam to form the radiation field to the shape of the tumor.
Mary Ellen Masterson-McGary, MS, Holmes’ chief physicist who commissioned the machine, explains, “Six-field prostate cancer treatments that formerly took 45 minutes to set up can be accomplished in 10 to 15 minutes with the new equipment.” She adds, “It’s very hard for a patient to remain still for 45 minutes.”
The machine also is a step forward in eliminating operator error during treatment. Many parameters are set every time a patient is treated, such as radiation dose, direction of treatment, and type of beam used.
A “record and verify module” in the accelerator aborts the procedure if something is set incorrectly. “It’s a lot like a space shuttle launch,” says Masterson-McGary. “You can get down to the two-second mark and have the machine shut off unless everything is set perfectly.”
The new equipment is the first system in Florida to include both a computerized record and verify system and a multileaf collimator. Patient treatments began in August after a two-month process of acceptance tests, data input, commissioning, and simulations requiring millions of measurements and verifications.
The record and verify system will contribute to oncology treatment research at Holmes. Jackson explains, “There’s no area where we need to know treatment outcomes more than with cancer treatment. We need to know patient survival rates.”
Using statistics gathered by this system and others across the U.S., oncologists will be able to pinpoint which specific treatment methodologies are most effective in treating the different types of cancers, so those methods can be continued.
“Holmes’ Radiation Oncology team is dedicated to providing the highest quality cancer treatment with the best technology, in a caring environment,” explains Bev Toppa, director of the department. An independent study of patient satisfaction by the Voluntary Hospital Association has rated Holmes’ Radiation Oncology Center in the 97.9 percentile among hospitals nationwide.
Using the latest technology, Holmes’ goal is to improve long-term patient survival from cancer by delivering higher radiation doses to the cancer tissue and minimizing the dose to adjacent normal tissues.