The Newest and Most Advanced Technology is Here!

We are proud to announce the arrival of the newest and most advanced technology available in the treatment of cancer with radiation. The all-new $2,500,000 Varian Trilogy linear accelerator has features unmatched by other models or manufacturers. Trilogy comes with a 120 multileaf collimator (MLC), Electronic Portal Imaging (EPID), On Board Imaging System (OBI), Respiratory Gating and extremely tight mechanical tolerances. The Trilogy linear accelerator is the most technically advanced linear accelerator in the world. With the MLC, radiation fields can be modified and adjusted during the treatment to fit the patient position. These fine adjustments allow us to shield adjacent normal tissues while giving the highest feasible dose to the tumor. Further, the MLC is used to deliver Intensity Modulated Radiation Treatments (IMRT) by allowing each “leaf” to move independently of the other “leaves.” This way, we can pinpoint radiation to areas as small as 5 mm by 5 mm. This leads to a customized plan for each tumor size and location in each patient. With the additional positioning devices and techniques, IMRT holds a great hope for controlling the most challenging tumor sites, such as head and neck cancers, spinal cord tumors, brain tumors, prostate cancer, and more. The ability to direct radiation is limited by how well we can position the patient. The Trilogy comes with an EPID that allows us to monitor the patient radio-graphically during treatment. Images are generated and monitored for changes and corrections during the treatment. Another important advancement that Trilogy brings to The Robert and Beverly Lewis Family Cancer Care Center is the ability to generate CT like images with the patient in the treatment position. This improves the pinpointing of the tumor location before treatments are delivered. We can look inside the body with greater accuracy and clinically respond to tumor changes. While patients breathe, the tumor may move with the breathing rhythm. Trilogy comes with a system to allow us to monitor the breathing cycle and deliver the dose only when the tumor is at predetermined positions. The advantage to this is that we are able to use tighter margins around tumors, which results in less treatment of normal tissue and the less unwanted side effects. With its stringent and tight mechanical tolerance, Trilogy allow us to be more precise in our treatment than ever before. Our patients will benefit from the new Trilogy technology by having better control of the tumors even when they are located in difficult areas to treat - More advanced technology means greater tumor control and greater hope of cure. Buchaib Rabbani, Ph.D., Radiaton Physicist