Thanks to HIC, Colombia has one of the most modern radiotherapy equipment in the continent

• It is the Varian TrueBeam STx, a linear accelerator that allows treating cancerous tumors anywhere in the body when radiation therapy treatment is indicated.

• The equipment, acquired by the International Hospital of Colombia, has the capability to perform from conventional radiation therapy treatments to the most complex and high-precision treatments such as Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT), Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT), and all different radiosurgery techniques.

• The equipment will be operated by a select group of professionals with extensive experience in the field, including the radiation oncologist, medical physicist, and technologists, trained in Pittsburgh by UPMC, one of the largest cancer patient operators in the world.

Bucaramanga, August 2016. The International Hospital of Colombia (HIC) will have the most advanced Cancer Institute in Latin America. In addition to the strategic alliance it has consolidated with UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) −one of the organizations with the highest international recognition for its trajectory in oncological treatments−, it has a TrueBeam STx, state-of-the-art equipment ideal for radiotherapy procedures.

"This is one of the most modern machines in the region, one of the first in South America, which will significantly help all those who are fighting against the onslaught of a disease like cancer," assures Rubén Mata, equipment installation engineer, who traveled from the United States to finalize the details of its assembly.

Linear accelerators use energy produced from X-rays, called photons, and their advanced technology to make treatment more precise on tumor lesions, preventing healthy organs or tissues near the treatment area from being affected.

This equipment also allows scaling radiation doses, so they can be managed at a very high intensity to achieve effective control over the tumor. "Varian −name of the renowned manufacturing company−, has put itself at the forefront with the most complete equipment currently existing in the market, because in addition to carrying out conventional radiation processes, still necessary, it enables sophisticated and high-precision treatments, such as radiosurgery, increasingly present nowadays as we are diagnosing cancer in earlier stages," emphasizes Doctor Javier Cifuentes Quin, radiation oncologist at HIC's Cancer Institute.

While it's true that the machine fights the disease in any part of the body where radiation treatment is indicated, there isn't the same mold for everyone, and it's necessary to study the level or stage of each disease. For HIC's medical physicist, Luis Carlos Lagares, "this is a very important tool that aims to achieve the great objective of radiotherapy: to achieve a reduction, and if possible, elimination of the cancerous tumor."

The patient −referred to the Cancer Institute's radiotherapy service once service provision begins−, will have their diagnosis confirmed and will be indicated the need to start specialized treatment.

If radiation therapy treatment is required, they will undergo a simulation CT (Computed Tomography) imaging study; the images will be imported into the treatment planning system, and this way, the best form of administering the required radiation dose will be evaluated. The specialist physician will indicate the region to be treated, as well as the healthy structures they wish to protect.

As explained by the coordinator of HIC's Cancer Institute, Martha Liliana Ordóñez Suárez, each patient is unique and different. "So we have to create expectations according to their assessment, help them understand the reality and the way we can support them, always providing the best possible care."

The Advantages of TrueBeam STx

What characterizes the equipment is that it allows molding the radiation beam –which comes out as a kind of "jet"–, so that it acquires the shape of the lesion to be treated.

The process is carried out thanks to a set of mobile leaves (multileaf) capable of modulating radiation intensity, that is, determining how strong it can reach the patient, resulting in a high dose distribution within the tumor, but low outside it.

It is precisely this lower impact on contiguous tissues that significantly reduces the side effects generated by the procedure.

Through another technique used, called RapidArc, it is possible to distribute the radiation dose, adapting it to the three-dimensional shape of the tumor in a short period of time. This method seeks to distribute radiation in broader zones, so that the global radiation in healthy organs decreases.

With such early diagnoses now being carried out to detect cancerous disease, and with the strict monitoring of its evolution, increasingly smaller tumors are being found that need very precise treatment. For this, the machine comes equipped with accessories that allow performing radiosurgery.

The radiation beam, in radiosurgery, can be so strong but so directed that it basically produces a result similar to surgery, an ablative effect. In this way, it is possible to eradicate a malignant cell population from a specific area with just one session.

The equipment is capable of administering high amounts of radiation in a short duration interval, which would significantly reduce the times of each treatment session. Thus, the procedure would be carried out in approximately 15 minutes, when with other types of equipment it could be even more than double, which ensures that the person does not move during its execution.

The accelerator has a robotic table that allows positioning the patient just as was done during treatment simulation, and irradiating them exactly as planned.

It should be mentioned that along with these advances implemented by the medical complex, in terms of innovation and technology, it has been essential that human talent has the necessary training to comprehensively provide satisfactory results.

"The machine must be administered by highly qualified personnel, because the more specialized that radiation equipment is, the higher the training of the person who has to handle it will be," states Dr. Cifuentes, while adding that what will make the difference in this hospital center is the type of care that will be offered.