Medanta- The Medicity, ranked the Best Private Hospital in India by Newsweek for six consecutive years, has greatly enhanced its cancer care program with the installation of an advanced Varian Edge radiation machine, which comes equipped with the latest IDENTIFY and HyperArc technology. With this development, Medanta becomes India’s first hospital to launch this modern, state-of-the-art medical equipment that ensures automated radiosurgery delivery.
The latest Varian Edge delivers precisely targeted radiation, allowing for highly effective tumor control while minimizing impact on surrounding healthy tissues. Its advanced imaging capabilities and rapid treatment delivery enhance the accuracy and efficiency of radiation therapy, allowing medical practitioners to plan and give radiation therapy with sub-millimetric precision.
It comes equipped with the latest IDENTIFY technology — a set of advanced surface-guided radiation therapy (SGRT) cameras that tracks a patient’s body position in real-time during radiation therapy, ensuring accurate alignment and providing real-time feedback, which enables immediate termination of radiation delivery if the patient moves out of position.
The new radiation machine also has the latest HyperArc — a new isocentric technique for volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) that delivers a high dose of radiation to tumors while sparing surrounding healthy tissue.
Dr Naresh Trehan, Chairman & Managing Director, Medanta emphasized technology’s pivotal role in the hospital’s enduring commitment to delivering world-class, patient-centric care. He said, “Technology is driving a revolution in healthcare and its participation in the enhancement of medicine is a huge importance to humanity. This machine will help deliver radiation with high precision and minimal impact on the healthy surrounding tissue, reducing morbidity and mortality, and is a milestone for Medanta’s comprehensive cancer care programme. We have opted for the latest equipment as we are steadfast in our commitment to deliver the best in healthcare, reflected in the Medanta ethos – ‘Har Ek Jaan Anmol’ (Every Life Is Invaluable).”
This high-precision machine cuts down the time needed for delivering the radiation dose to patients per session to about a minute, down from the earlier three minutes, and is used to tackle a wide range of tumors, including multiple brain metastasis, Breast cancer and Lung cancer.
Dr. Tejinder Kataria, Chairperson, Radiation Oncology, Cancer Care at Medanta –The Medicity said, “In the new Varian EDGE machine, the overall patient experience improves. Earlier, the patient had to lie on the treatment couch for nearly 20 minutes, even though the delivery of the treatment used to take only three minutes. Now, this time has been greatly reduced, and the treatment delivery time has been shortened to about a minute. Thus, the patient’s in-room experience is vastly shortened.”
The SGRT cameras ensure that the Varian Edge is especially helpful in the treatment of children, who often struggle to lie still and are more likely to move during the delivery of the radiation. The latest machine allows the treatment couch to be controlled from a separate room, so technicians can fine-tune settings and make adjustments remotely while monitoring the therapy area on camera in real time.
Dr. Kataria added, “We have come a long way from a nihilistic approach to treating cancer and towards radiation delivery over the past four decades. In the new machine, computer algorithms and the rapid dynamic movement of the multileaf collimator, along with the assembly around the patient, delivers the sub-millimeter precision in the delivery of the treatment.”
