Rigorous safety measures, pre-treatment checks help deliver the best treatment; Open House: March 20

NORTHAMPTON - Cooley Dickinson Hospital purchased state-of-the-art radiation oncology equipment and began treating patients with this technology in February.

For patients undergoing radiation oncology treatments, the Elekta Synergy can significantly shorten daily treatment times. It also delivers the radiation dose more precisely to the tumor while minimizing the impact to the surrounding healthy tissue. Says Linda Bornstein, MD, chief of radiation oncology at Cooley Dickinson: “With the Elekta Synergy and its many features designed to benefit patients, we can treat cancer more precisely and aggressively than ever before.”

"Patients in our community have access to the latest radiation oncology treatment technology available," Dr. Bornstein adds, noting that leading cancer centers like Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center have purchased the same technology.

Video Tour of the Radiation Oncology Suite

According to manufacturer Elekta, Cooley Dickinson’s Radiation Oncology Suite is the first in New England to implement the Elekta Synergy that has the ability to perform Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT).

Radiation therapy and patient safety
As the leading radiation therapy technology on the market, the Elekta Synergy includes built-in software programs to ensure the safe delivery of radiation therapy. Craig Hansen, RT (T), BS, radiation therapy manager says Cooley Dickinson’s radiation therapy quality and safety program complies with mandated state and federal guidelines and exceeds best-practice standards that have been set by Cooley Dickinson.

“The safe delivery of radiation therapy is of utmost importance to the physicians, nurses, physicists, radiation therapists, social workers and administrative staff who comprise a patient’s treatment team,” says Hansen.

Cooley Dickinson’s approach to safety and quality assurance includes pre-treatment checks performed by dedicated staff on all treatment plans; charts reviewed weekly by the treatment team and in peer-review chart rounds; and monthly quality assurance meetings are held to develop strategies to improve care and reduce the risk of errors.

Hansen says prior to receiving radiation, a patient’s radiation therapy prescription goes through multi-step pre-treatment checks. Designed to ensure accuracy, a patient’s treatment plan is developed, reviewed and tested by three experienced radiation therapy clinicians. Also, the Elekta Synergy computer software includes duplicative steps designed to verify the radiation prescription.

“As a final step before treatment, we conduct a dry run to verify the imaging,” adds Hansen. Finally, a radiation oncologist signs off on the plan.

In addition, Cooley Dickinson invested in upgrades to its entire radiation therapy computer systems and linear accelerators to ensure the systems exceed quality assurance standards. 

Understanding radiation therapy
Patients undergoing radiation treatment for cancer are treated with a linear accelerator, equipment that produces a radiation beam of either electrons or high energy X-rays. The beam is adjusted to match the patient’s tumor shape.

In the majority of cases, radiation therapy is given as fractionated treatment, meaning that patients receive a daily dose of radiation five days a week for two to seven weeks, depending on a patient’s individual treatment plan. At each daily treatment, the radiation beam is given from different angles to ensure that the entire tumor receives an optimal radiation dose.

The geometry and intensity of the radiation field is adjusted to the tumor’s size and shape and also to the type of cancer that is treated. The treatment beam is shaped with a multileaf collimator (MLC) that functions much like the aperture on a camera.

A new approach to radiation therapy
The Elekta Synergy is an advanced digital linear accelerator that integrates imaging tools to enable high quality, 3D imaging at the time of a patient’s radiation therapy treatment. The ability to image or visualize internal structures at the time of treatment allows clinicians to more accurately target tumors while preserving the healthy tissue that surrounds a tumor.

Dr. Bornstein says an advantage of the Elekta Synergy is that it combines the imaging and the treatment at each session and helps to ensure precision during treatment.

With the addition of the Elekta Synergy, the Radiation Oncology Suite contains two linear accelerators, the new machine and a second linear accelerator that has been in use since 1996.

The VMAT technology
Elekta Synergy incorporates Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT), an innovative way to deliver radiation treatments that is a significant improvement over existing radiation therapies. With VMAT, the target area is continuously irradiated while the source of the beam rotates around the patient.

Open house planned
On Saturday, March 20 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Cooley Dickinson Cancer Care Program and Radiation Oncology Suite physicians and staff are pleased to invite the community to an open house to tour the suite and learn about the new technology. In addition, attendees will have the opportunity to learn more about the Cooley Dickinson and Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center collaboration to expand oncology services to Pioneer Valley residents. For more information call the Cancer Care Program office at (413) 582-2028 or email the Program director.

About Elekta
Elekta is a human care company pioneering significant innovations and clinical solutions for treating cancer and brain disorders. The company develops sophisticated state of the art tools and treatment planning systems for radiation therapy and radiosurgery, as well as workflow enhancing software systems across the spectrum of cancer care. For more information about Elekta, please visit www.elekta.com.

About Cooley Dickinson Hospital
Serving communities in Western Massachusetts, Cooley Dickinson features centers of excellence in such specialties as orthopedics, cardiology, cancer care and minimally invasive surgery. A staff of 1800 professionals and 400 affiliated physicians comprise an integrated network of emergency, surgical, clinical, rehabilitative, hospice and home care expertise that treats 40,000 emergency patients per year, delivers 800 babies, and collaborates with Massachusetts General Hospital to deliver comprehensive cancer care. Cooley Dickinson’s vision is to be the nation’s premier not-for-profit community hospital, able to provide local access to the most advanced clinical treatments in a caring and neighborly setting. Nationally recognized for effective, innovative attention to patient safety, Cooley Dickinson Hospital meets the highest standards of bringing medical advances to local communities by truly providing “excellence next door.” Learn more at www.cooley-dickinson.org

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