Northside Hospital Forsyth unveils new cancer treatment system
Forsyth County News
Northside Hospital Forsyth has a new system to help expand radiation therapy services at the hospital’s cancer institute.
Northside Forsyth recently added a new Varian Medical Systems’ TrueBeam advanced linear accelerator, which provides several radiotherapy services. Officials are hopeful it will allow the cancer institute to see more patients at a faster rate.
“New technology, state-of-the-art facilities and expert, compassionate staff have made Northside Hospital Cancer Institute one of the largest and most respected cancer care providers in Georgia,” said Debra Corbin, director of radiation oncology, Northside Hospital Cancer Institute, in a news release.
The linear accelerator offers “fully integrated for image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT), intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and RapidArc radiotherapy and radiosurgery.”
The system allows doctors to view tumors in real-time using advanced imaging, addresses challenges from other models with patients moving during the procedure and treats cancer anywhere in the body where radiation treatment is indicated.
The radiation dose for each patient can be customized, “generating higher doses of radiation and treating the entire tumor in a single arc around the patient, while sparing normal, healthy tissue and dramatically reducing the amount of time the patient spends on the couch.”
The system is the fifth TrueBeam accelerator among Northside hospitals, along with machines in Alpharetta, Canton, Midtown and Sandy Springs.
More than 8,000 patients were treated with radiation therapy at Northside Forsyth and more than 50,000 radiation treatment procedures were done across the hospital system in 2018.
“While we hope no one ever needs our services, we are honored that so many patients have trusted Northside with their cancer care,” Corbin said. “We remain committed to offering a full continuum of treatment options to give each patient the very best chance for a cure."
View More