Quirónsalud Torrevieja acquires a new state-of-the-art linear accelerator for the treatment of all types of cancers with radiotherapy

• The Varian TrueBeam 2.7 accelerator increases the speed of procedures tenfold, allows to select the most adequate energy for each tumour, location and treatment type, increases precision and protection of healthy organs and reduces the number of sessions, improving the patients’ quality of life.

Quirónsalud Hospital Torrevieja introduces a new linear accelerator for the treatment of all types of tumours: VARIAN TRUEBEAM 2.7.

The Radiation Oncology Department of Quirónsalud Torrevieja hospital, with 18 years of experience, continues its commitment towards the forefront of technology and excellence in treatments, now adding this accelerator to the innovative techniques already being applied, such as Intraoperative Radiotherapy (MOBETRON, Intraop).

With this new accelerator, says Dr. Rosa Mª Cañón, head of the Radiation Oncology Department at Quirónsalud Torrevieja, “greater accuracy is achieved in the localisation of tumours, and therefore, more precise treatments”.

“It is equipped with state-of-the-art 3D and 4D imaging systems that allow online visualisation and correction during treatment delivery.”

“The new accelerator”, she adds, “features a wide range of energies and the most advanced radiotherapy techniques, which allow us to increase the dose to the tumour and reduce it in healthy organs, shaping the irradiation beam so that it adapts perfectly to the three-dimensional structure of the tumour, protecting nearby tissues and organs as much as possible, reducing side effects, which improves the quality of the treatment and, therefore, is of great benefit to patients.”

Shorter treatments: duration per session and total number of sessions

Dr. Rosa Mª Cañón explains that yet another of the advantages of the new equipment is the treatment speed, which is up to eight times faster than in conventional accelerators.

The new accelerator has two energy rates, including FFF energy for High Intensity. “The FFF system enables us to treat some tumours at much higher doses than in conventional (Hypofractionations / Radiosurgery), with a much faster speed than the usual treatments. Administering higher daily doses results in increased tumour control, shorter duration of each session and a reduced total number of sessions”

Real-time tumour check

Other advantages of the new equipment include high-quality CT (scanner) imaging. “We can acquire high-quality 3D images to check the treatment area. The Image-Guided Radiation Therapy system: IGRT, is used to check the position of the tumour before each treatment session and also during treatment delivery.

Thus, we check that the tumour, and the healthy organs surrounding it, is in the planned and optimal position for treatment, and if not, the equipment indicates the necessary movements to correct the patient’s position so that the tumour is in the exact place with respect to what was previously planned on a computer,” explains Dr. Cañón. This feature minimises error due to tumour movement and therefore reduces uncertainty in the treatment delivery.

Radiosurgery without a stereotactic frame

The configuration of the accelerator has been extended with the acquisition of special devices (cylindrical collimators) for brain radiosurgery treatments, with which greater protection of the healthy brain is achieved.

The new equipment makes it possible to perform brain radiosurgery treatments without the need to place the patient in the stereotactic cruciate frame (fixed to the skull bone) “using repositionable masks, with real-time detection systems, and thus enables the administration of very high doses of radiation with maximum precision and safety,” states Dr. Cañón.

Table movement

The accelerator table on which the patient is placed during treatment is capable of correcting small variations in the 6 axes of movement, achieving greater precision in patient positioning. The doctor says, “it allows the position of the patient and the tumour to be adjusted very quickly and accurately, and this can be done both manually and automatically.”

Benefits of treatment with the new linear accelerator

• Greater safety, enabling analysis and correction of the position in real-time at the time of treatment. It implements Imaging systems, obtaining high quality images (both 2D and 3D: CT), including Imaging Guidance Systems:
• Reduces lung irradiation in complex treatments through the “Respiratory Gating Module,” which allows treatment to be administered in the selected respiratory range.
• Greater precision in patient positioning. It features the “PerfectPitch 6DoF” table, capable of correcting small changes in the 6 movement axes.
• Minimises the chance of errors. It allows manual and automatic positioning and the ability to move with remote control from the control room.

Increased techniques

Regarding treatment techniques, we are able to deliver treatments with static techniques, dynamic arcs, as well as intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), and RapidArc (volumetric intensity modulated arc).

These technological advances enable us to continue to deliver all the treatments in our portfolio of services:

• Three-dimensional external radiotherapy
• Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT).
• Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) with Kv images.
• Re-irradiations,
• Radiosurgery / Cranial Stereotactic Radiotherapy (SRS)
• Body Fractionated Stereotactic Radiotherapy (SBRT lung, liver and bone).

New techniques introduced:

• Arc therapy with volumetric intensity: VMAT, RapidArc
• Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) with KV-MV and CT images (ConebeanCT: CBCT)

All in all, the most outstanding advances provided by the new linear accelerator are the greater precision in positioning, accuracy in localisation, extensive image acquisition options for visualisation and correction in real-time, faster speed in the delivery of treatments, with a wide range of irradiation techniques, which make it possible to increase the doses to the tumour and reduce the side effects on healthy organs, which leads to an increase in the outcomes of tumour control and in the patients’ quality of life.

Quirónsalud in the Valencian Community and Murcia region

Quirónsalud has eight facilities in the Valencian Community and Murcia Region, a leading group at the forefront of medicine where people are the central focus.

Quirónsalud is at the forefront of private healthcare in the Valencian Community and Murcia in terms of technological equipment, as well as comfort and services for both patients and professionals working at its facilities.

About Quirónsalud

Quirónsalud is the leading hospital group in Spain and together with its parent company, Fresenius-Helios, it is also the leader in Europe. Besides its operations in Spain, Quirónsalud is also present in Latin America, especially in Colombia and Peru. Overall, the group has more than 40,000 professionals in 125 plus healthcare facilities, including 54 hospitals with about 8,000 hospital beds. It employs the most advanced technology and a large team of highly specialised and internationally renowned professionals.

Its facilities include the Fundación Jiménez Díaz University Hospital, Teknon Medical Centre, Ruber Internacional, Quirónsalud University Hospital Madrid, Quirónsalud Barcelona Hospital, Dexeus University Hospital, Gipuzkoa Polyclinic, General University Hospital of Catalonia, Quirónsalud Sagrado Corazón Hospital, etc.

The Group strives for the promotion of teaching (eight of its hospitals are university hospitals) and medical and scientific research (it has a Healthcare Research Institute under FJD, accredited by the State Secretariat for Research, Development and Innovation).

Likewise, its care service is organised in transversal units and networks that allows optimising the experience gained at various facilities and translating its research into clinical practice. Currently, Quirónsalud is developing numerous research projects across Spain, and many of its facilities play a leading role in this area and are pioneers in different specialities such as oncology, cardiology, endocrinology, gynaecology, and neurology, among others.