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Yale-New Haven Hospital
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Yale-New Haven Hospital news release
Release date: June 22, 2007
Media contact: (203) 688-2488
Yale-New Haven Hospital offers new technology for cancer patients
NEW HAVEN — Yale-New Haven Hospital is home to a new Varian Trilogy linear accelerator, considered one of the most versatile cancer treatment devices available in the field of radiation therapy.
The first unit of its kind in the greater New Haven area, the Trilogy accelerator is capable of providing image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT), which allows for improved tumor localization and treatment precision through the use of an integrated CT scanner.
"The Trilogy is a major technological step forward in our ability to provide the latest in cutting edge treatment delivery for our patients in Connecticut and the surrounding region," according to Lynn D. Wilson, MD, MPH, vice chairman and clinical director of the Department of Therapeutic Radiology .
“Certain types of tumors shift in location from day-to-day. With the Trilogy accelerator, the CT scanner first takes an image of the tumor. The accelerator then rotates around the patient delivering radiation from nearly any angle so the treatment is directed at the precise location of the tumor,” explained Nick Papale, director of radiation therapy. “This enhances the accuracy of the radiation treatment and minimizes radiation exposure to the nearby normal tissue.”
The new Trilogy accelerator, one of three linear accelerators at Yale-New Haven, allows for the capability to treat patients with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). SRS delivers higher doses of radiation to smaller areas with extraordinary precision and is particularly useful in treating lesions of the spine, liver, lung, and brain.
In addition, this accelerator is capable of delivering 3D (three-dimensional) conformal radiotherapy, and intensity-modulated radiation (IMRT), techniques that provide more customized delivery of radiation; and respiratory gating (often referred to as 4D radiotherapy taking into account tumor motion over time), a feature that makes it possible to track the position of a tumor as a patient breathes during treatment delivery.
“Radiation therapy is used today in more than half of all cancer patients,” explained Papale. “By using this Trilogy system, we have the potential to significantly improve cancer treatment outcomes by doing a better job of protecting healthy tissue while delivering higher doses of radiation to the tumor, all in a shorter period of time.”
Yale-New Haven, together with Yale Cancer Center, the only nationally-designated comprehensive cancer center in southern New England, provides a complete range of services including the highest level of cancer diagnosis, treatment and research.
The hospital’s new 14-story, 497,000 square-foot cancer hospital, expected to be completed in late 2009, will be one of the most comprehensive cancer care facilities in the nation.
For more information on YNHH’s new Varian Trilogy linear accelerator, or a referral to a radiation oncologist, patients should contact the hospital at 888-700-6543
Yale-New Haven Hospital is a 944-bed, not-for-profit hospital serving as the primary teaching hospital for the Yale School of Medicine. Yale-New Haven was founded as the fourth voluntary hospital in the U.S. in 1826 and today, the hospital complex includes Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital and Yale-New Haven Psychiatric Hospital, with a combined medical staff of about 2,400 university and community physicians practicing in more than 100 specialties. See www.ynhh.org for additional information.
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Last revised: April 26, 2007 (dh)
