Olympic Medical Cancer Center offers the Varian TrueBeam™, the most advanced linear accelerator available today.
 The innovative TrueBeam system offers a radically different approach to treating cancer with image-guided radiotherapy. It delivers more powerful cancer treatments with pinpoint accuracy and precision. The TrueBeam uniquely integrates new imaging and motion management technologies within a sophisticated new architecture that makes it possible to deliver radiation cancer treatments more quickly, while monitoring and compensating for tumor motion. This opens the door to new possibilities for the treatment of cancer of the lung, breast, prostate, head and neck, as well as other cancers treatable with radiotherapy.
“This linear accelerator offers a broad spectrum of new capabilities, enabling us to treat even the most challenging cancer cases with unprecedented speed and precision,” says Rena Zimmerman, MD, medical director of radiation oncology at Olympic Medical Cancer Center. “TrueBeam breaks the mold in just about every dimension, making it possible for us to offer faster, more targeted treatments to tumors even as they move and change over time.”
Faster Treatments
With dose delivery rates that are 40 to 140 percent higher than earlier generations of Varian technology, the TrueBeam can complete a treatment significantly faster. This makes it possible to offer greater patient comfort by shortening treatments, and to improve precision by leaving less time for tumor motion during dose delivery. “Intelligent” automation further speeds treatments with an up to five-fold reduction in the number of steps needed for image guidance and dose delivery.
“Patients spend less time lying still, immobilized, resulting in increased patient comfort,” says Dr. Zimmerman.
Enhanced Precision
The precision of the TrueBeam is measured in increments of less than a millimeter (smaller than a mustard seed). This accuracy is made possible by the system’s sophisticated architecture, which synchronizes imaging, patient positioning, motion management, beam shaping and dose delivery, performing accuracy checks every ten milliseconds throughout the entire treatment. As the treatment progresses, critical data points are measured to ensure the system maintains a true focal point of treatment.
For lung and other tumors subject to respiratory motion, TrueBeam offers gated RapidArc® radiotherapy, which makes it possible to monitor patient breathing and compensate for tumor motion as it quickly delivers its dose during a continuous rotation around the patient. “This helps us treat lung cancer, but will greatly enhance our ability to treat breast cancer – the leading cause of cancer death in Clallam County – and we expect this to make a meaningful difference for breast cancer patients in our area,” says Dr. Zimmerman. “We can treat the tumor as if the patient were not breathing.”
“It is unprecedented for a rural hospital to offer such a robust cancer center with the advanced technology not even offered in the nearest urban center," says Rhonda Curry, assistant administrator, Olympic Medical Center. "Our affiliation with the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance also offers significant advantages. We are very proud to offer outstanding cancer services and technology to Clallam County.”
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