Top Hospitals and Healthcare 2016: LewisGale targets prostate and other cancers with new linear accelerator.
John Rogers, M.D.
At LewisGale Regional Cancer Center in Salem, patients with prostate and other cancers can experience shorter radiation times, thanks to the Varian TrueBeam Accelerator, one of several state-of-the-art technologies purchased for the center, which recently underwent $15.5 million in renovations.
The medical linear accelerator works by speeding up electrons, then colliding them with a heavy metal surface so that they are transformed into photons. These photons are directed to the tumor with great precision—a process enhanced by the machine’s gantry, which can rotate 360 degrees around the patient. This rotational arm allows technicians to attack the tumor from multiple angles, making it ideal for prostate cancer, which is often hard to reach, as well as other cancers.
Built-in CT and fluoroscopic imaging helps technicians “make small adjustments in the patient’s position to account for movement of the internal organs,” says radiation oncologist Dr. John Rogers. In prostate cancer, “The bowel and bladder are the primary concerns. With better imaging capabilities, we’re able to limit the dose to those structures and that helps to reduce the incidence of severe side effects.”
The accelerator is the second acquired by the hospital. The latest model delivers radiation even faster than its predecessor, reducing the time a patient must spend in treatment from 15-20 minutes to about 10 minutes. The shorter treatment times help those who experience breathing problems or other discomforts when they must lie down and remain still, says Rogers.
Patients with prostate cancer undergoing external radiation still require about eight weeks of daily treatment with the accelerator. However, for brain and small lung cancers, and small cancers that have spread to the liver, “We can deliver high dose treatments in a very focused way to those sites. Rather than having patients come back daily for therapy, we can deliver large single doses and they get three or four treatments,” he says.
At the cancer center, the accelerator is part of $6.5 million in new radiation-therapy technologies. Other additions include a $2 million da Vinci Xi Surgical System, a robotic system that can be used for complex multi-quadrant surgeries, and a $1 million Genius 3D Mammography Unit, a low-dose technology that is particularly effective for women with dense breast tissue. The new cancer center, unveiled in June, also includes a new entrance and reception area and a $6 million two-story medical office building. LewisGale.com/service/cancer-care
Urology News
Bon Secours Hampton Roads announced in June that it has joined the American Cancer Society’s National Colorectal Cancer initiative with a pledge to ensure that by 2018, 80 percent of adults over the age of 50 in the Hampton Roads community are being regularly screened for colorectal cancer. Bon Secours hopes to achieve this goal through bringing together health care providers and patients, public outreach, and advocating strategies that remove screening barriers.
In October, the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU appointed a new director of pediatric urology. Dr. C.D. Anthony Herndon joins VCU from the UVA School of Medicine and specializes in continent urinary tract reconstruction, robotic surgery, prenatal hydronephrosis and hypospadias.
A research team comprising the interventional radiology and urology departments at UVA Health System have commenced a national clinical trial to study non-surgical treatments for urinary tract problems caused by an enlarged prostate. Researchers expect to enroll up to 80 individuals, from ages 45-80.
Urology Top Honors 2016
Retreat Doctors' Hospital Richmond, HCAVirginia.com, 804-254-5100 Mary Washington Hospital Fredericksburg, MaryWashingtonHealthCare.org, 540-741-1100 UVA Medical Center & UVA Children's Hospital Charlottesville, UVAHealth.com, 434-924-0211 VCU Medical Center Richmond, VCUHealth.org, 804-828-9000 Sentara Norfolk, Sentara.com, 757-388-8000
See all of our top hospitals for 2016, below.
Cancer UVA Cancer Center
Cardiology VCU Pauley Heart Center
Dermatology Inova Melanoma and Skin Cancer Center
Diabetes EVMS and Sentara Heart Hospital
Gastroenterology Centra Lynchburg General Hospital
Geriatrics Riverside Center for Excellence in Aging
Neurosurgery Bon Secours St. Mary's
Orthopaedics Carilion Clinic
