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New radiotherapy system installed at Baptist Health Louisville

Technology to provide greater precision in targeting tumors, reducing treatment times

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Dec. 12, 2014) – Greater precision in targeting tumors and reducing treatment times to just a few minutes are just some of the benefits of the new Truebeam radiotherapy system recently installed at the Charles and Mimi Osborn Cancer Center at Baptist Health Louisville. The equipment is from a new line of super accelerators by Varian Medical Systems.

Baptist Health“This is cutting-edge radiation therapy technology providing treatment precision measured in less than a millimeter,” said Dr. Carole Scharf, radiation oncologist and program medical director. “Its engineering reduces the number of steps required in both imaging and patient position, therefore greatly reducing overall treatment time, which results in greater patient comfort and convenience.”

The technology uses non-invasive radiation to target cancer tumors and preserve healthy surrounding cells with most treatment times only lasting a few minutes. In addition, Truebeam performs both intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), which allows physicians to customize the dose of radiation sent to different parts of the tumor and image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT), which through advance imaging allows the physician to visualize the exact location of the tumor in real time. This is especially critical when treating a tumor that moves.

The Center started treating patients with the Truebeam system on Dec. 1. For more information on Baptist Health Louisville’s comprehensive cancer care, visit baptisthealthlouisville.com.