Advanced Technology

Hahne Regional Cancer Center has the state-of-the-art TrueBeam

Penn Highlands Healthcare has made a significant investment toward improving cancer care for its patients. Hahne Regional Cancer Center has the state-of-the-art TrueBeam system, an innovative system that enables a radically different approach to treating cancer with image-guided radiotherapy.

The TrueBeam system, from Varian Medical Systems, was engineered to deliver more powerful cancer treatments with pinpoint accuracy and precision. It uniquely integrates new imaging and motion management technologies that make it possible to deliver treatments more quickly while monitoring and compensating for tumor motion. The advanced equipment opens the door to new possibilities for the treatment of cancers located in the lung, breast, prostate, head and neck, as well as other cancers that are treatable with radiotherapy. The precision of the new system at Hahne is measured in increments of less than a millimeter.

With dose delivery rates that are 40-140 percent higher than earlier technology, the TrueBeam system can complete a treatment much faster. This makes it possible to offer greater patient comfort by shortening treatments and to improve precision by leaving less time for tumor motion during dose delivery. "Intelligent" automation also reduces the number of steps needed for image guidance and dose delivery, which also greatly increases the speed of the treatment. Simple treatments that once took 15 minutes or more can be completed in less than two minutes once the patient is in position.