New system at the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital can quickly deliver high-dose treatments with speed and accuracy
HONG KONG, Nov. 2, 2011 – The Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital here has become the first clinic in Asia to commence treating cancer using the TrueBeam(TM) system from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE:VAR). Clinicians used the new system on September 28, for the palliative treatment of a metastatic bone lesion, and then again on October 6, to deliver an image-guided and intensity-modulated radiotherapy treatment for a patient battling head and neck cancer.
"The TrueBeam system improves on earlier generations of technology," said Dr. Wing-Hong Kwan, MD, Director of the Department of Radiotherapy at the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital. "It offers excellent 3-D imaging capabilities so that we can target the tumor with great accuracy. Using this system, we will be able to quickly deliver high doses to the tumor while limiting exposure of the surrounding tissues and organs."
According to Dr. Kwan, two special capabilities of the TrueBeam system stand out as particularly exciting: the ability to synchronize treatment with a patient's respiratory motion, and the ability to generate real-time images during treatment. "These capabilities enable us to verify and confirm that we are accurately targeting the tumor throughout a course of treatment," he said. "They provide us with an added measure of accuracy."
