St. Luke's Regional Cancer Center Celebrates New Linear Accelerator

St. Luke’s Regional Cancer Center celebrated the opening of its news linear accelerator with a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house.

Construction for a vault to house the new accelerator at St. Luke’s Regional Cancer began in late 2017 and finished in April near 10^th Avenue East and Superior Street. The linear accelerator replaces an older linear accelerator at St. Luke’s. The TrueBeam linear accelerator from Varian allows oncologists to treat patients through external beam radiation by delivering high-energy x-rays and electrons directly to a tumor. Designed from the ground up to treat moving targets with advanced speed and accuracy, the TrueBeam system treats cancer anywhere in the body where radiation treatment is indicated, including lung, breast, prostate and head and neck.

“It’s a treatment option that was created with the patient’s comfort in mind,” St. Luke’s Regional Cancer Center Clinic Manager Stacy Sandberg said. “Being treated for cancer can be scary and we want to make the process as smooth as possible for patients while giving them the best results.”

The carefully guided, automated workflow on the TrueBeam system uses intuitive visual cues to enhance safety and reduce operation times so patient throughput can be optimized. Streamlined imaging and patient positioning tools enable more flexibility to treat clinical cases throughout the body. Having the power to not only treat quickly, but to deliver high, accurate dose rates are hallmarks of the TrueBeam system.

To learn more about St. Luke’s Regional Cancer Center and cancer treatment options visit www.slhduluth.com/cancer.