New Dimensions in Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy has been used in the treatment of cancer for decades, and the major challenges have been constant: How can physicians be certain that the radiation reaches the tumor site? How can radiation be delivered effectively to kill cancer cells and minimize exposure to healthy tissue?

Alta Bates Summit is proud to advance the treatment of cancer by becoming the first hospital in the Bay Area to acquire the TomoTherapy Hi-Art (linear accelerator) system.

One effective method of delivering radiation is through a machine - a linear accelerator - that focuses an external beam at a specific part of the body.

TomoTherapy means "slice therapy" and gets its name from tomography, or cross-sectional imaging. This linear accelerator is the first to integrate a CT (computed tomography) scanner to acquire real-time images – 3D x-rays – to verify the tumor site immediately before treatment. Treatments become more precise because the radiation is altered for any patient movement and the changing shape of the tumor. Our radiation oncologists are now able to make adjustments "on-the-fly". This approach is called Adaptive Therapy.

The machine’s design also allows it to continuously deliver radiation from all angles around the patient. TomoTherapy features beam-modulating technology that divides a single radiation beam into many smaller, narrow "beamlets" that precisely conform to tumors and minimize damage to surrounding healthy tissue. This translates into fewer side effects and may allow patients to complete their course of treatment in a shorter period of time.