The Radiation Oncology department at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center is always on the lookout for the best tools and technology to help in the fight against cancer. We are the first in central Illinois to offer the RapidArc software for our Trilogy radiotherapy system.
What makes this software improve the already state-of-the-art Trilogy?
The Trilogy combines imaging and treatment technologies to deliver a wide range of external beam radiotherapies, including 3D conformal radiotherapy, IMRT (intensity modulated radiotherapy) and intensity-modulated radio surgery. The RapidArc allows our doctors to treat the patient with just one rotation of the machine’s arm around the patient. This allows faster treatment and minimizes discomfort for patients.
Single, high-dose treatments of radiation are administered through Trilogy’s RapidArc. It is very efficient in the amount of radiation produced and given to the tumor. The Trilogy RapidArc is faster and more comfortable for patients being treated for cancers of the spinal cord and salivary gland, in addition to other “hard-to-reach” forms of cancer.
Dr. James McGee is the medical director of Radiation Oncology at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center and co-director of the Illinois Neurological Institute Gamma Knife facility. The Gamma Knife is another state-of-the-art tool used to treat brain tumors. The Trilogy RapidArc is using new, non-invasive technology to lessen the discomfort during the treatment of tumors. The RapidArc is a very flexible piece of equipment that allows doctors unlimited access to a patient from all angles and has the ability to turn 360-degree angles. The radiation can be pinpointed such that patients will face far less risk of radiation exposure to healthy tissues and organs. In one example, a multi-target cancer of the nasopharynx, RapidArc plans were found to be equivalent or better at target coverage for all targets, and superior in protecting critical structures, including the spinal cord, brainstem, eyes, optic nerve and chiasm, parotid glands, and brain. In this test, the RapidArc treatment took only 110 seconds.
This unique technology is consistent with the vision of a medical center that continues to deliver products and services that add to its tertiary care. The RapidArc adds to the market niche of OSF Saint Francis and Children’s Hospital of Illinois of unique services provided to more than 34 counties in Illinois. Our regional patients no longer have to drive to St. Louis or Chicago for this type of cancer treatment. iBi