How TrueBeam LINAC can Help Treat Breast Cancer Faster, Smarter & with Precision

By Dr. Sumant Gupta in

Nov 19, 2022

A breast cancer diagnosis is an overwhelming & stressful experience for all women. Women and their families may not know what to expect from the disease and how exhaustive the treatment is going to be. What’s more disturbing is the anticipation of the outcome of the treatment. 

With millions of women being diagnosed every year with breast cancer, research and new treatments have been ongoing for a long time to treat breast cancer successfully with the least possible side effects or health damage.

Breast Cancer treatment can have high success rates when the cancer is detected in its early stage. However, if cancer has reached its advantage stage, things start to get riskier and trickier. Advanced metastatic cancer can spread to other parts of the body, including the lungs, bones, lymph nodes, etc. These are mostly treated with surgery followed by supportive treatments, such as chemotherapy, hormone therapy, or radiation therapy. 

Another factor that makes it difficult to operate on or provide radiation to a cancerous mass is when it is located in an inoperable or difficult-to-reach spot. It is where the highly advanced technology – Varian TrueBeam LINAC does wonders.

TrueBeam LINAC

TrueBeam LINAC is an innovative technology that is used to specifically target certain cancer areas like the breast, brain, pancreas, lungs, etc. These are types of cancers that are difficult to treat because of their position or continuous movement. With traditional cancer treatment and radiation methods, it may be difficult to provide precise radiation to shrink these cancers without harming the surrounding tissue.

This is where TrueBeam LINAC technology helps doctors with precise radiation treatment. It is a linear accelerator and radiation treatment device developed by Varian Medical Systems. It was developed with the intent of treating cancer anywhere in the body, including the breasts. The device is known for its accuracy, precision, and speed in providing radiation.

The Advanced Technology of TrueBeam

The TrueBeam LINAC system has advanced cutting-edge technology that is beneficial in treating even advanced breast cancer. Some characteristic features of the TrueBeam are as follows:

• It can exactly pinpoint the location of difficult-to-access tumours.
• It works accurately on tumours and cancers that are constantly moving. TrueBeam uses the latest technology that realigns radiation beams every 10 seconds based on the tumour’s position. 
• It integrates imaging tools like CBCT imaging, including 4D CBCT, gated CBCT imaging, short ARC CBCT, extended-length CBCT, and multi-scan CBCT, all in one single device.
• The device combines various technologies to provide images as well as radiation through one device.
• It allows doctors to get the real-time position of cancer while administering radiation doses.

Why TrueBeam for Breast Cancer?

Less Suffering For the Patient: TrueBeam can administer the exact doses of radiation in 75% less time than other devices. Patients can get the entire radiation dose in less than 2 minutes as compared to 10-30 minutes with other devices. Since TrueBeam is highly accurate and precise, surrounding healthy tissue does not get damaged as opposed to other forms of radiation therapy. This also calls for fewer side effects when compared to other radiation treatments. Patients will get treated & then recover faster with TrueBeam radiation therapy.

The Entire Process is Condensed: Cancer treatment requires several steps of imaging, planning, treatment, etc. With TrueBeam, all the steps can be accomplished using a single device. Doctors can use TrueBeam to quickly pinpoint the exact location and advancement of cancer. Doctors can then also use this device to plan the exact dosage of radiation based on advanced 3D images. The device can then be used to administer finely precise radiation dosages to exact positions using real-time imagery.

Highly Accurate, Precise and Faster Treatment: The major reason for employing the TrueBeam is its highly accurate imaging. This is because it uses advanced technology to assess & mark the location with submillimeter accuracy. The radiation can also be provided through all angles. So whether the cancer is in a difficult spot or is moving due to respiratory motion or other factors, TrueBeam will provide the radiation specifically without damaging the surrounding healthy tissue.

Concluding Thoughts

TrueBeam Linear Accelerator (LINAC) has already become a revolutionary model in cancer treatment. It reduces time, recovery period, and difficulty and increases the accuracy of treatment. It is a radiotherapy system that is designed while keeping the patient’s needs in mind. 

So if you or someone you know suffers from any form of cancer, do talk to your oncologist about the possibility of using TrueBeam in your treatment along with other supportive cancer treatments.