Three Reasons Why the OMC Cancer Center Needs a New Linear Accelerator for Radiation Treatment
The primary driver of the expansion and addition of a second vault/linear accelerator is patient volume. Over the past few years, patients under treatment have steadily increased, leading to long days for both patients and staff. There have been many days were patients were scheduled from 7am to 7pm.
- Both linear accelerators will be mirrored. This means if either of them are down, since the physics are mirrored, we will be able to expeditiously transfer radiation plans to the other one to keep patient treatments on track.
- The extra vault will allow room for growth into High Dose Radiation (HDR) and other brachytherapy techniques. A current deficiency on the peninsula.
A secondary driver has been the advent of improved treatment through advances in technology and computer software. This has enabled OMCC to treat patients who in past years may have been sent to other centers.
- We now do a fair amount of stereotactic radiosurgery(SRS) and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). The amount of time it takes to treat a patient like this is extensive, which eats into each treatment day. Having two machines will lower our costs for staff coverage, provider coverage and patient wait times, and the new machine will handle these types of treatments better.
The third driver is the age of the present equipment. In 2011, we installed a 1st generation Varian TrueBeam. At the time, it was the 4th install in the US and only machine with its advanced technology in Washington state. This machine has been expertly maintained and upgraded over the past 10 years. With the new TrueBeam installation, the present machine will serve as our secondary unit.
Also, we want to provide $30,000 in funding for the Patient Navigator program, which provides monies for living expenses for OMC Cancer Center Patients.
