Image-guided radiotherapy unveiled at Dijon cancer hospital
19 June 2008
The Georges-François Leclerc Cancer Center in Dijon, France has
become the first site in the country to install a Trilogy linear
accelerator from Varian Medical Systems. The new system for advanced
image-guided radiotherapy was unveiled by French health minister
Roselyne Bachelot in a special inauguration ceremony.
Professor Philippe Maingon, head of radiation oncology at the
Georges-François Leclerc Cancer Center in Dijon, said, “We were honoured
that the health minister was able to attend our unveiling ceremony and
acknowledge the vital role of radiotherapy in treating cancer patients.”
Carrying out the opening ceremony, Madame Bachelot praised the work of
the Georges-François Leclerc Cancer Center and reiterated radiotherapy's
status as a key weapon in the battle against cancer in France.
The Trilogy device becomes the hospital’s third Varian linear
accelerator, enabling the centre to treat more patients with more
advanced treatments, including stereotactic radiosurgery.
“The Trilogy enables us to carry out very precise image-guided
stereotactic treatments in addition to our established program of
intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) treatments,” said Professor
Maingon. “This is an important step forward in bringing advanced and
targeted radiotherapy to patients in this location.”
Professor Maingon said his team will begin using the Trilogy for
prostate cancer treatments, using the advanced cone-beam CT imaging
capabilities to validate the accuracy of patient set-up positioning
prior to treatment in a dose escalation program. Doctors will also use
the new machine to take part in a national hypo-fractionation clinical
research trial involving hypo-fractionated stereotactic treatment of
lung tumours. “The same approach will also be used for patients with
liver tumours, either primary or metastatic, which are not treatable
either by surgery or chemotherapy,” added Professor Maingon.
The Georges-François Leclerc Cancer Center has been one of two
leading hospitals to host Varian’s European IMRT School in recent years.
“It is a pioneering hospital carrying out some advanced,
highly-conformal radiotherapy treatments and we are delighted to be
working with them to introduce image-guided and stereotactic treatments
for the benefit of their patients,” says Youssef Rihane, Varian’s
country manager in France. The hospital treats 1200 patients each year
and serves cancer patients within a radius of 200 kilometers.