MUSC Hollings Cancer Center Unveils New Cancer-Fighting Technology

TrueBeam STx expands radiation oncology services, offers patients shorter treatment time

CHARLESTON, SC – New technology installed at the Medical University of South Carolina Hollings Cancer Center offers patients a nonsurgical, specialized form of treatment that can be completed in five or fewer outpatient sessions, each lasting 20 minutes or less. The first patient will be treated on Aug. 13.

An investment made in partnership with national radiosurgery provider Alliance Oncology, TrueBeamTM STx is an advanced cancer treatment system that treats patients with stereotactic radiosurgery, a noninvasive method of treating tumors with high-dose radiation precisely matched to the size and shape of the tumor. This pinpoint accuracy minimizes radiation exposure to healthy tissue and allows physicians to customize treatment for different types of cancer, including more complex cases.

“TrueBeam STx will allow us to enhance the patient experience by significantly reducing treatment time to five or fewer visits, which will allow patients who receive the treatment to spend more time with their families and to focus on other activities,” said Dr. Joseph Jenrette III, chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology at MUSC. “TrueBeam STx can give hope to patients with inoperable or surgically complex tumors, as well as those seeking an alternative to surgery or conventional radiation therapy.”

TrueBeam STx is capable of treating cancerous and noncancerous tumors in the body, including the lung, brain, prostate, spine, liver, pancreas, kidney, bone and eye. It can also treat certain blood vessel abnormalities, as well as trigeminal neuralgia, a neuropathic disorder that causes intense facial pain.

Treatments with TrueBeam STx are available at the MUSC Health main campus in downtown Charlestonand will be available in Mt. Pleasant in early 2015. An open house will be held at the main hospital onThursday, Aug. 14, from 4-6 p.m. and will include demonstrations of the new technology.

For more information, call (843) 792-3273 or visit www.MUSCHealth.org/radonc.