The Varian Medical Systems Clinac Linear Accelerator 21iX, features the latest radiation therapy technology.

The cancer center is opening its doors to preview the technology at an open house event on Tuesday from 4 p.m.–6 p.m. at 212 Smith Church Road in Roanoke Rapids.

With this new technology, the clinic now offers an advanced radiation therapy called Image Guided Radiation Therapy to treat a variety of cancers with improved accuracy, comfort and safety.

“Cancer tumors can move, because of breathing and other movement in the body,” says Dr. Chanchamma A. Thannikkary, a board certified radiation oncologist with Roanoke Valley Cancer Center. “IGRT allows us to track the location of the tumor at the time of treatment and deliver precise doses of radiation therapy to the tumor, sparing the surrounding normal tissue.”

The new linear accelerator uses image guidance software to track and continually adjust the external radiation therapy dose using Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy. IMRT uses thousands of radiation beam-lets from many different angles to deliver radiation directly to the cancer, not to healthy areas.

The center goes an extra step to ensure that patients receive the exact amount of radiation therapy prescribed with proprietary dosage assurance software, the SureBeam Guardian Protection System. This system records the amount of radiation a patient receives and automatically alerts the radiation therapist if it is less or more than the prescribed dose. In fact, it is so sensitive that it can tell if there is a change in a patient’s tumor or anatomy, which may require a modification to their treatment plan.

“With these new technologies, patients will be able to receive high quality radiation therapy in an outpatient setting, close to home,” says Thannikkary. “Through the addition of this system to our arsenal of tools, we can select the best treatment for each individual type of cancer and bring a wider selection of cancer treatment options to Halifax County.”