Max Hospital, Patparganj employs Truebeam STx to treat cancer
Truebeam STx gives out radiation enabling very high accuracy thus reducing radiation exposure to surrounding normal structures
Max Super Speciality Hospital, Patparganj is treating breast and lung cancer patients with Truebeam STx, a cutting-edge technology. Features of Truebeam STx system include cutting-edge imaging modality – ExacTrac, which helps in capturing images of the tumour even when it moves with the patient’s natural breathing. The Micro- multileaf collimator of Truebeam allows the treating beams to conform to the shape of even the smallest of tumours. This also allows the use of Truebeam STx system in different modalities of treatment delivery like IMRT, IGRT, Rapid Arc and SRS. It is 6D couch rotation property helps in better targeting of tumours with a lot less inconvenience to the patient.
A 32-year-old woman was not just successfully operated upon for breast conservation surgery but also treated with this technology thereby protecting her lungs and heart from exposure to radiation. Through the DIBH technique, Truebeam was synched with the patient’s breathing so when she took deep breaths and held them in a certain band, the radiation was delivered thereby targeting only the breast and not affecting the underlying heart and lungs.
Dr Dinesh Singh, Director, Department of Radiation Oncology, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Patparganj says, “Radiotherapy is required by about 70 per cent cancer patients at one or the other time in their life. Radiotherapy means treating cancer with radiation which most commonly are X Rays, produced and delivered in a highly controlled manner and Linear Accelerator is the basic equipment used for this. However, this has been evolving rapidly and we have the most advanced form of it called True Beam. It derives its name from the fact that it has unfiltered or original beam as opposed to filtered or modified beam in conventional Linear Accelerators.”
Dr Gagan Saini, Associate Director, Department of Radiation Oncology, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Patparganj, says, “Radiotherapy is one of the most important treatment modalities in the successful treatment of cancer. With technological advancements, new machines have come up for delivery of radiation in cancer treatment. Truebeam STx is one such technical marvel that has revolutionised the treatment of cancer with radiation. Truebeam Stx is the most advanced linear accelerator and radio surgery treatment system which facilitates highly conformal radiation treatment to even very hard to access tumours with an accuracy of less than 1mm error.”
Elaborating on why radiologists are increasingly opting for this technology, Dr Singh explains, “Why we are choosing Truebeam in more and more cases is due to the many advantages that this technology has on offer. Its unfiltered beam delivered at a high dose rate takes less time to complete treatment and hence there are less chances of the tumour growing or of target movement. It is capable of very accurate delivery of radiation required and gives a very precise radiation delivery plan in a very short time. It also has an app, ExacTrac that provides guidance during radiation delivery for heightened accuracy and its DIBH or deep inspiratory breath hold technique greatly reduces doses to heart and lungs in treating left sided breast cancer.”
