New Cancer Treatment Comes to Volusia County

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., November 13, 2018 – Patients fighting cancer now have a new treatment option in Volusia County.

“Called the TrueBeam Radiotherapy System, this technology can treat cancer anywhere in the body with state-of-the-art accuracy and speed. This includes cancer in the brain, lung, breast, prostate, head and neck,” said AdventHealth Memorial Medical Center radiation oncologist Dr. Shiv Desai.

Engineered from the ground up, the TrueBeam system by Varian Medical Systems delivers more powerful cancer treatments with pinpoint accuracy and precision.

“We are excited to bring TrueBeam to the community because it is an amazing piece of technology – which is critical when you are talking about fighting cancer,” said Desai. “TrueBeam is unique in that it integrates imaging and motion-management technologies within a sophisticated new architecture. This is what makes it possible for us to deliver our cancer-fighting treatments more quickly and with more accuracy than ever before, targeting the cancer while sparing as much of the healthy tissue as possible. TrueBeam truly opens the door to new possibilities for any cancers that are treatable with radiotherapy.”

Faster Treatments
With dose delivery rates that are 40–140 percent higher than earlier generations of Varian technology, the TrueBeam system can complete a treatment much faster.

“When you have to come in everyday for radiation treatment, shortening the time it takes can understandably be so important to patients,” said Desai. “Simple treatments that once took 15 minutes or more can now be completed in less than two minutes, once the patient is in position.”

Intelligent automation further speeds up treatments with an up-to-fivefold reduction in the number of steps needed for image guidance and dose delivery.

Enhanced Precision
The precision of the TrueBeam system is measured in increments of less than a millimeter.

This accuracy is made possible because TrueBeam synchronizes imaging, patient positioning, motion management, beam shaping, and dose delivery, performing accuracy checks every 10 milliseconds throughout the entire treatment.

For lung and other tumors that can change position in the body as we breathe, TrueBeam offers gated RapidArc® radiotherapy. This makes it possible to monitor patient breathing and compensate for tumor motion while quickly delivering a dose.

“Over the past decade, lung cancer has become one of the leading causes of cancer deaths for both men and women,” said Desai. “With TrueBeam, we can deliver radiation to a moving lung tumor as if it were standing still. It’s remarkable! This technology will make a meaningful difference for lung cancer patients in our community.”

Creating Vital Images with Lower Doses of Radiation
The imaging component of TrueBeam’s technology is so important because it is what helps ensure the cancer is targeted with pinpoint accuracy, while at the same time, healthy tissue is spared. However, many patients can be concerned about being exposed to additional radiation to obtain these vital images.

“That’s another way TrueBeam is so unique. TrueBeam’s imaging technology can produce 3D-images to help us fine-tune our tumor targeting in 60 percent less time. Additionally, TrueBeam makes it possible for us to create images using 25 percent less X-ray dose,” said Desai. “With a broad spectrum of new capabilities, TrueBeam breaks the mold in just about every dimension and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to offer this to our community.”

AdventHealth Flagler in Palm Coast also offers the TrueBeam technology.

About AdventHealth Memorial Medical Center
AdventHealth’s parent company, Adventist Health System, has announced that it will soon change its name to AdventHealth. Based in Altamonte Springs, Adventist Health System is one of the nation’s largest faith-based health care systems with nearly 50 hospital campuses in nine states and more than 80,000 employees. As of Jan. 2, 2019, AdventHealth Memorial Medical Center will adopt the AdventHealth name and logo. This name change is not the result of a merger, acquisition or change in ownership, but part of our efforts to help consumers easily identify AdventHealth’s care locations and services. We remain steadfastly committed to delivering whole-person care for the mind, body and spirit and our mission to extend the healing ministry of Christ remains the same.

Located in Daytona Beach, AdventHealth Memorial Medical Center has 327-beds and is one of the six AdventHealths in Flagler, Lake and Volusia counties that composes the AdventHealth Central Florida Division - North Region.