Varian Trilogy™ Linear Accelerator

In the new Radiation Oncology Division, we have installed a new Varian Trilogy Linear Accelerator for treating cancer and neurological lesions with:

The Trilogy system is the most powerful, precise, and versatile treatment system in the world.

At the core of the Trilogy system is Varian’s high-powered linear accelerator, a machine that rotates around the patient to deliver radiotherapy treatments from many angles. The system is able to deliver high doses of radiation to a tumor, while minimizing the dose received by the surrounding normal tissues. The Trilogy linear accelerator was designed to deliver high doses of radiation very quickly, and with great precision. This translates into faster treatments, greater patient comfort, and the potential for better outcomes.

In the past, treatments were delivered by aiming the radiation beam at marks placed on the patient’s skin at the time of the initial simulation. The Trilogy system incorporates a multileaf collimator, for shaping the radiation beam to match the 3-D shape of the tumor, and a robotic On-Board Imager™ device for fast, accurate, real-time tumor tracking and automated patient positioning before each treatment.

The Trilogy system also includes technologies that account for tumor motion during treatment. A set of optical guidance cameras monitor and correct for patient movement, while an infrared monitoring device turns the radiation beam on and off at a predetermined point in a patient’s breathing cycle to compensate for respiratory motion. This process is called respiratory gating (RPG). These important tracking and targeting technologies enable us to treat lesions that were difficult to treat in the past.

Today, more than half of all cancer patients will receive radiation therapy at some point in their course of treatment. Using the Trilogy system, we have the potential to substantially improve treatment outcomes by being able to increase the dose to the cancerous tissue without increasing the dose to the surrounding normal tissues. This should translate into better cure rates and fewer side effects.