TAMC’s Aroostook Cancer Care provides the most comprehensive cancer treatment north of Bangor. To ensure that this level of service continues and that the advances of tomorrow are available to residents of Aroostook County in the future, TAMC is making a substantial investment in both facilities and equipment.
Efforts are underway to replace an aging radiation therapy linear accelerator, improve and expand treatment areas, and create a more home-like or private surrounding to accommodate medical and family needs. TAMC is embarking on a project to co-locate and modernize the radiation department and the existing medical oncology/hematology practice within the Aroostook Cancer Care Center.
TAMC will be installing a new, state-of-the-art linear accelerator, which provides radiation therapy used to shrink tumors for cancer patients throughout the region. TAMC has the only linear accelerator in northern Maine, without which Aroostook County patients in need of radiation therapy would be required to travel to Bangor. However, the current machine is nearing the end of its lifespan and needs to be replaced.
A linear accelerator speeds electrons toward a target to generate a radiation beam aimed at a patient’s tumor. Many patients at TAMC are treated using a technique called Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT). For an IMRT treatment with the current equipment at TAMC, the beam is targeted through a series of custom-made molds for each patient’s tumor. A series of seven to nine molds are created for each patient, and those molds are manually changed throughout each treatment to ensure the tumor is always targeted and that the healthy tissue is protected. While effective, this procedure is time consuming.
With the new Varian linear accelerator, IMRT treatments are performed using a computer controlled mechanism called a multi-leaf collimator, which continually shapes the radiation beam and varies the intensity in real time, meaning improved care and convenience for patients.
“As good as the current molds are, the multi-leaf collimator is safer and more precise,” said Randy Bacon, manager of TAMC’s Imaging Services. “It will allow much faster treatment for patients. Instead of a therapist having to come into the room nine times during treatment to change the mold and adjust the positioning of the machine, the machine moves in a continuous sweep, changing and adjusting the shape and intensity of the beam throughout the treatment.”
The new linear accelerator will also be capable of advanced treatments such as Image Guided Radiotherapy (IGRT), Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT) and Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS). These new capabilities mean more accurate treatments that can be accomplished in fewer visits, minimizing radiation damage to healthy tissue and improving patient outcomes, according to Bacon.
TAMC will also be implementing new electronic medical record (EMR) and treatment planning systems that are fully integrated with the linear accelerator. Paper records will be a thing of the past. The full integration of computer software and equipment will mean that once a treatment plan is made it will automatically communicate that plan to the linear accelerator enabling a 100% accurate treatment.
For additional patient convenience, the Dr. Christopher Seitz Radiation Oncology Suite which will house this new linear accelerator will be located adjacent to Aroostook Cancer Care, rather than in the basement of the hospital as it currently is. The placement of the new unit in this location also means that there will be no disruption to patient treatments when the hospital is ready to transition from the old to the new. Patients can be treated on the current linear accelerator right up until the new machine is ready to be put into use, which is anticipated to happen by this coming spring.
A groundbreaking for the vault that will be home to the new linear accelerator is planned for Saturday, October 11 at 10:30 a.m., as part of the Color Me Pink Run/Walk activities taking place at TAMC that day. The vault will be an addition on the southerly side of TAMC’s East Annex building. It will consist of concrete walls and a concrete roof up to eight feet thick which prevents radiation from escaping.
“With the redesign of the Aroostook Cancer Care footprint, time efficiency for patients will be improved as patients receiving concurrent radiation and chemotherapy will not have to travel to another area of the hospital to receive these services,” explained Brenda Baker, manager of Aroostook Cancer Care.
“Currently patients often need to have early appointments in one department or the other to receive both treatments in a timely manner. Any delay, in one department or the other, causes disruption of patient schedules and sometimes leads to patients being here later in the day.”
This will impact many patients, since it is estimated that radiation therapy will be used in 60 to 70 percent of cancer patients at some time during the course of their treatment, according to Dr. John Mullen, TAMC radiation oncologist.
In addition to radiation therapy, nearly 250 patients a month are receiving medical oncology and hematology services through Aroostook Cancer Care. For many, this requires multiple trips to the center each week and hours sitting in a treatment chair. To help make this experience a little more bearable, an atrium area is being created that will provide a beautiful new environment for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
With the new waiting room, exam room, radiation and infusion suites, patients and caregivers have been considered, and the space designed to improve patient/caregiver comfort and safety,” said Baker.
