The Hospital San Juan de Alicante begins to use a linear accelerator that halves the radiation time of tumors
“We are going to have the appropriate technology for 21st century radiotherapy”. With this message, the head of Radiation Oncology at the Sant Joan Hospital in Alicante, Gabriel Vázquez, welcomed the Halcyon model linear accelerator, the first of its characteristics to be launched in public health in the Valencian Community.
This technology, the best currently available worldwide, represents a great advance in the treatment of brain tumors, since it is capable of halving the radiation time of tumors.
“The new Halcyon equipment that we are launching comes to enrich our radiotherapy oncology service, since it offers an excellent quality of treatment, much faster since we go from the current 15 minutes to 9 minutes per session, which has an impact on greater comfort for patients and the possibility of treating more patients with the appropriate number of personnel”, indicates the head of the Radiation Oncology service.
But not only will treatment be improved in speed, this new machine “will allow the introduction of special techniques, such as radiosurgery and extracranial SBRT.”
The equipment starts with the treatment of pelvic tumors, such as prostate, bladder, cervical or endometrial tumors and will progressively be used in other lesions located in the thorax, such as lung or breast cancer..
“We have decided to start with pelvic tumors because they are currently the most numerous, especially there are a large number of cases of prostate cancer that can be addressed with the new linear accelerator, it is one of the most prevalent tumor pathologies”, he indicates. vazquez.
On the opening day, two patients were treated and given that the learning process of the professionals who operate the machine is progressive, the number of patients who benefit from this new radiotherapy will increase day by day. “Currently we treat 50 patients in the morning and afternoon shifts and with the new accelerator we hope to be able to increase the number of patients by 20%, reaching 70 per day,” says Dr. Gabriel Vázquez.