Gainesville, Va. — April 28, 2009. Cancer patients in Northern Virginia and metropolitan Washington, D.C., will soon have access to an innovation in cancer care through The Cancer Center at Lake Manassas. The Cancer Center announced today that it will begin offering a fast, precise form of radiotherapy using advanced technology from Varian Medical Systems. The new RapidArc treatment, which is two to eight times faster than conventional radiotherapy, is scheduled to be operational in May.
“We’re proud to be the first facility in Northern Virginia to offer patients this excellent treatment option,” says Sanjeev Aggarwal, M.D., medical director at The Cancer Center. “RapidArc technology will enable us to target some types of cancer more accurately while sparing more healthy tissue.”
The Technology
RapidArc treatments at The Cancer Center will be delivered using a Clinac®/2100iX medical linear accelerator from Varian Medical Systems, outfitted with an On-Board Imager® kV imaging system for generating and using images to guide patient placement and treatment delivery. The linear accelerator rotates around the patient to deliver the radiation treatments from nearly any angle.
During a RapidArc treatment, the radiation is shaped and reshaped as it is continuously delivered from virtually every angle in a 360-degree revolution around the patient. The beam shaping will be accomplished using an important accessory called a multi-leaf collimator (MLC), a device with 120 computer-controlled mechanical “leaves” or “fingers” that can move to create apertures of different shapes and sizes.
During a RapidArc treatment, specialized software algorithms will vary three parameters simultaneously: the speed of rotation around the patient, the shape of the MLC aperture, and the dose delivery rate.
Patient Benefits
Since the RapidArc technology delivers radiation therapy very quickly, in a single rotation of the treatment machine around the patient, it will be much easier on the patient.
“It’s hard for people to hold still for long periods of time. By delivering doses more quickly, we can simultaneously improve the quality of care and make our patients more comfortable,” explains Dr. Aggarwal.
The Cancer Center at Lake Manassas has treated nearly 1,000 patients since opening in February 2007. Dr. Aggarwal estimates that approximately 20-30 percent of the center’s patients – including prostate and head and neck cancer patients - might benefit from this new RapidArc technology.