St. Luke's Medical Center–Quezon City launched the Philippines' first TrueBeam Edge radiotherapy program, expanding access to advanced cancer treatment in the country.

Manufactured by Varian, a Siemens Healthineers company, TrueBeam Edge is a system that combines imaging, beam delivery, motion management, and patient positioning, enabling sub-millimeter precision radiation therapy for a variety of cancers.

“This has been a work in progress for the past few years,” said the President of St. Luke's and CEO Dennis P. Serrano during the launch on Friday.

This program sets a new benchmark for cancer treatment in the Philippines by bringing technology previously only available at international cancer centers to Filipino patients.

TrueBeam Edge includes sub-millimeter precision, a smart multileaf collimator (MLC) that shapes radiation beams to match tumor contours, advanced motion control and breathing gating, stereotactic radiosurgery for complex brain tumors and multiple metastases, image-guided radiotherapy for real-time treatment validation, a precise patient measurement system and patient-measured delivery of precise treatments.

Luke's Medical Center Department of Radiation Oncology Head Kenneth Sy said the new technology greatly reduces treatment time, allowing doctors to treat multiple tumors at the same time.

“We do very strategic procedures, and it depends on what kind of wound you have. One wound will take 20 to 30 minutes. We expect this machine to take less than 6 minutes for one wound. So now it allows us to treat many wounds as well. So instead of just going, we can go maybe 8 or 9 at one time,” said Mr. Sy.

“The delivery of radiation will be faster. The time spent on treatment will be shorter. And we can reduce the treatment… If it is not, let's say, 6 weeks, we can shorten it to 1-3 weeks,” said Ms. Penano.

“The technical part, if you have large lesions, for example, it only takes a while. But the limit is reducing the dose. Although for small lesions, we can really follow it with higher doses. And the advantage of this, at the same time, you can save everything,” said Mr. Sy.

As the only facility in the country equipped with TrueBeam Edge, St. Luke's–Quezon City said the technology allows patients to receive highly specialized radiotherapy in the country instead of traveling abroad.

According to the hospital, the system improves the accuracy of treatment while reducing damage to healthy tissue, shortens treatment times, improves safety by tracking the tumor in real time, and expands treatment options for difficult and difficult-to-treat cancers, including stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT).

Ms. Peñano said most magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided treatments are covered by PhilHealth, while patients undergoing more advanced radiation therapy may still need to pay part of the cost.

“Most of our MRI treatments are covered by PhilHealth. But because of the more advanced radiation therapy, part of it is still covered by PhilHealth, but maybe there is a patient payment,” Ms. Peñano said.

So the side effects of radiation therapy will depend on the area we are treating. Therefore, usually, the results are found in this area exposed to radiation. However, with new technology, we can reduce the negative effects. So, for example, if we treat a tumor in the head, the patient may have dry mouth, allergies, difficulty swallowing, diarrhea. Peñano said.

“There are constraints that we work on and we do not exceed that. Therefore, we always work below the curve. That is, we do not give high doses that can cause symptoms or eventually sickness in the participation … Therefore, we make sure that everything passes and everything is safe for the patient before we try to start,” said Mr.

“I hope that the doctors are happy with the acquisition of the TrueBeam linear accelerator. I hope that it will translate into faster discharge, more patients served, better results, and again, better satisfaction of our patients,” said Mr. Serrano.

Mr. Sy said the TrueBeam Edge technology will also be available at St. Luke's Medical Center–Global City in Taguig by around August this year. – Kaizzer Angela Marie V. Manuba