The Patricia D. Pepe Center for Cancer Care at OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony Medical Center has upgraded its technology to ensure patients receive the latest and best technology available for radiation treatment.
The Varian True Beam linear accelerator (LINAC) is one of the most advanced radiation machines on the market. This new technology offers patients faster, safer and more targeted care when it comes to radiation treatment. Among many attributes, the LINAC machine monitors patient motion during radiation treatment and will actually stop care if a patient moves too much.
“If a patient takes too deep of a breath or moves out of the range we are targeting for treatment, the machine will stop, ensuring we are only treating the exact area of concern, which in turn makes this safer for our patients,” said Iftekhar Ahmad, MD, the medical director for oncology services at OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony Medical Center.
The LINAC instrument improves targeted radiation treatment for many areas including, but not limited to, the lung, spine and brain.
“With the LINAC technology we can offer our breast cancer patients targeted techniques that will limit the dose of radiation entering other organs, in particular the heart,” said Dr. Ahmad. “This technology furthers our commitment to our community to provide the best and greatest care. Through these technological advancements we ensure our patients have access to the most advanced cancer treatment options, and in turn patients have better outcomes and lesser side effects. Most importantly, they do not have to travel far from home to obtain this exceptional care.”