What is Truebeam?
Varian’s Truebeam is a high-precision linear accelerator used in Radiation Oncology. It is the most advanced radiotherapy technology, used to treat tumours that are difficult to access or even inoperable. It is a state-of-the-art equipment, with a lower degree of toxicity and greater efficiency than traditional methods. The main d technological breakthrough uses a light beam that can target locations more precisely.
How it works
Truebeam’s operation is agile, flexible and intuitive. This equipment has two advanced systems to achieve a higher precision.
• Gating – system that monitors the patient’s respiratory movements in real time. The gating systems allows the radiation beam to the directed at the target’s exact location according to the patient’s respiratory cycle, reducing the impact on healthy tissues..
• Breath Hold – system that monitors breath holding during inspiration or forced expiration, therefore enabling adjustments to the beam’s incidence depending on the target’s location.
These two systems are decisive for treating lung cancer and cancer of the left breast, anatomical areas that undergo natural oscillations with respiratory movements. With Varian’s Truebeam, the patient can breathe normally (with the Gating system) or suspend breathing for a short period (Breath Hold system), which allows for a more comfortable treatment session, without the risk of changing the radiation’s target.
Capabilities and benefits
This equipment has several benefits for patients.
• High precision. Truebeam’s technology allows for high-precision treatment of tumours and cancers, in the most difficult to reach areas and even in previously inoperable tumours. It can make all the difference in the case of solid cancers or when the stage is advanced but still curable.
• Less radioactive load. With nanometric accuracy and lower doses in healthy tissues, Truebeam allows for faster and more effective treatments. In addition, radiation is 25% lower, compared to previous technologies, which represents greater safety for the patient.
• Ability to adjust treatment. Thanks to its own digital production of high-resolution three-dimensional images, Varian’s Truebeam can visualize the tumour in real time and, therefore, control movement. The initial treatment plan can be adjusted whenever necessary.
• Comfort. The patient is placed on a robotic treatment table and the equipment continuously rotates around him, synchronizing the dose and the image. It is painless, and some patients even fall asleep during treatment.
Truebeam is equally effective in palliative care, where tumour characteristics significantly hinder the quality of life of patients, making it possible to recover some autonomy and daily activities. It is also effective when an area or region needs to be re-treated.
Truebeam at Joaquim Chaves Saúde
Joaquim Chaves Saúde provides the latest technology in radiotherapy. With the TrueBeam linear accelerator, patients have access to one of the most advanced therapeutic protocols worldwide in Oncology. With this treatment, we take another decisive step in the ability to fight cancer, effectively and efficiently.