Guarantee increasingly precise and less invasive treatments, reducing the number of sessions necessary. The Irst “Dino Amadori” Irccs Radiotherapy Unit has been equipped with a new linear accelerator (Linac, Linear Accelerator) which allows the Institute to take advantage of one of the most advanced radiotherapy devices currently on the market. The Linac installed to replace the previous instrumentation, which has now reached the end of its optimal use cycle, in fact, allows a better conformation of the radiation beam in order to hit the tumor target very accurately, sparing the nearby tissues. Furthermore, the new Linac has a much higher treatment speed than the previous technology as the dose it can deliver over the exposure time is greater.
Not only more precise and faster: a recent technology has also been implemented on the new Linear Accelerator, Sgrt (acronym for Surface Guided Radiation Therapy) which reconstructs the patient’s body surface in virtual 3D and monitors it from pre-therapy positioning up to end of treatment. In this way, in the event of involuntary shifts or movements of the patient, the emission of radiation is interrupted so as to avoid hitting healthy organs. “It is also possible to carry out treatments synchronized with respiratory movements – explains Doctor Antonino Romeo, director of the Irst Radiotherapy SC – so that the irradiation of the tumor lesion takes place in the most favorable position, far from the most radiosensitive healthy organs. This allows , for example, optimal sparing of cardiac structures during the treatment of breast cancers or in the case of treatments close to the lung area for lymphomas which often concern young patients.”
The new Linac, continues Dr. Romeo, “has greater effectiveness even in treatments on small tumors, when high doses of radiation are used with millimetric precision (stereotaxic), sparing the surrounding healthy organs as much as possible and reducing to a minimum side effects. Treatment with stereotactic radiotherapy also involves a significantly lower number of sessions (from 1 to 5) compared to conventional radiotherapy. The use of the new technology – concludes Dr. Romeo – will help reduce the time of treatment delivery, reduce the overall number of sessions, have better control of the disease and concurrently save healthy organs, resulting in fewer side effects for the patient”.
A very important technological update for the IRST Radiotherapy unit, the result of an investment of almost 1.5 million euros, which will allow further implementation especially in terms of effectiveness, speed and quality of care. For the benefit of sick people who turn to the Irst Radiotherapy offices in Meldola and Ravenna, every year between 2,000 and 2,500 patients with various oncological pathologies, both with new diagnoses and with a therapeutic path already underway. Both locations have a dedicated centering CT and, for therapies, Linac and Tomotherapy. The Ravenna facility is also equipped with brachytherapy for treatments from an internal source (small radioactive needles).
“With this new instrumentation we are able to guarantee a further improvement in care for our patients – say Doctor Lorenzo Maffioli (general director of Irst Irccs) and doctor Maria Teresa Montella (health director of Irst) – who even during the period of installation of the new Linac saw the continuity of treatments guaranteed, thanks to an effective collaboration between Irst and ASL Romagna. Between the deactivation of the old accelerator and the installation of the new Linac, various actions were implemented to reduce waiting times, thanks to the generous commitment of the staff working in IRST Radiotherapy both in Meldola and Ravenna and to the support of the ASL colleagues in the Rimini office”.
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