Varian Medical Systems reports that “Providence Medical Center in Kansas City has become the first cancer treatment center in the Central U.S. to use the new Trilogy™ system … for image-guided radiosurgery (IGRS), an ultra-precise treatment that uses new, real-time X-ray imaging capabilities to target cancer and neurological lesions.”
Company describes its system:
Varian Medical Systems has introduced the world’s first image-guided radiation therapy system optimized for both conventional and stereotactic approaches to treating cancer. The versatile Trilogy™ system can be used to deliver 3D conformal radiotherapy, IMRT, stereotactic radiosurgery, fractionated stereotactic radiation therapy, and intensity-modulated radiosurgery for cancer and neurosurgical treatment.
Trilogy is the first practical, clinically-viable system for delivering all forms of external-beam radiation therapy. It will enable doctors to choose and use the most appropriate treatment modality for treating cancer in the body or the head and neck, and to deliver the full spectrum of treatments, all on one machine in a single room.
Trilogy represents a cost-effective means of expanding the patient case mix and treatment modality repertoire within a radiation oncology department. At the core of the Trilogy system is Varian’s 23EX Clinac® linear accelerator, which has been enhanced for stereotactic applications that involve delivering higher doses of radiation to smaller areas over a shorter period of time.
The Trilogy system is capable of delivering stereotactic radiosurgery by increasing its maximum dose delivery rate from 600 to 1000 monitor units (MU) per minute and by fine-tuning the Clinac isocenter, or focal point, to a 1-millimeter diameter sphere. Additionally, the treatment couch is moveable by remote control, which is necessary for speeding up treatment for the patient and maximizing the number of beam angles that can be used to optimize treatment.
With Trilogy, doctors have the option to treat some small lesions using stereotactic radiosurgery, which is delivered in a single treatment, or stereotactic radiotherapy, which is delivered over a period of a few days. The Trilogy system can also be used for conventional and conformal radiation therapy, which are delivered in daily small doses over a period of weeks.
The benefit of stereotactic approaches are generally realized with smaller lesions.
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