John Muir Unveils New Radiation Equipment for Cancer Patients

John Muir Medical Center, Walnut Creek hosted an open house Wednesday to unveil the installation of a TrueBeam STx linear accelerator, a state-of-the-art piece of equipment that applies radiation in a way that conforms to the shape of a tumor, targeting cancer cells with pinpoint accuracy, sparing healthy surrounding tissue.

The TrueBeam STx is used for noninvasive image-guided radiosurgery (SRS) and stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) as well as conventional radiotherapy treatments. It delivers the radiation up to 4 times faster than other radiosurgery systems. It has reduced radiosurgery treatment times for cancer patients that would typically take 30 to 60 minutes down to just 5 to 20 minutes. Faster treatment time enhances the overall treatment accuracy and is better for patient comfort.

Delivery of the radiation from the TrueBeam STx system is accurate to less than a millimeter. With advanced imaging, it allows clinicians to deliver treatment more accurately by enabling them to better view the tumor they treat. True sub-millimeter accuracy and precise shaping of the radiation fields is required for radiation delivered to the brain and for tumors that arise in the brain or have spread to the brain from other sites, such as breast and spine. This accuracy is made possible by a sophisticated control system, which choreographs imaging, patient positioning, motion management, beam shaping and dose delivery, while performing accuracy checks every 10 milliseconds throughout treatment.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. SRS can be used to treat breast cancer that has spread to the brain. Although breast cancer is a highly curable disease – more than 95 percent of women treated in their early stages of the disease survive beyond five years – patients whose breast cancer has metastasized or spread to the brain have on average a 20 percent one year survival prognosis. Metastasis is the reason for 90 percent of all cancer mortality. Treating brain metastasis through accurate and precise targeting of cancer cells is vital to extending the lives of women with breast cancer. The TrueBeam STx accelerator was designed with this in mind.

--Information from John Muir Medical Center

--Photo: William Bice PhD, Chief Physicist and Director of Radiation Oncology at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, demonstrates the operation of the TrueBeam STx linear accelerator during an open house on September 10. Courtesy John Muir Medical Center