Trilogy and TomoTherapy

The Siteman Cancer Center offers two of the most advanced and integrated radiation therapy systems available today – the Varian Trilogy system and the TomoTherapy Hi-Art treatment unit. These tools allow radiation oncologists at Siteman to precisely target and destroy cancer cells without damaging surrounding healthy tissue.

The Trilogy and TomoTherapy systems provide image-guided radiation therapy, or IGRT, which represents the latest evolution in radiation therapy care. Traditionally, X-rays or CT scans are taken before starting a series of radiation treatments to determine where a tumor is located and to develop a target area for delivering therapy. Patients are set up for each treatment based on the same coordinates.

But tumors have a tendency to shift or shrink during therapy. With our IGRT systems, radiation oncologists can check the location of tumors with CT scans before each treatment, make necessary adjustments and administer radiation – all on the same machine. This allows them to deliver higher doses of radiation to more precise areas, which improves the effectiveness of the treatment. At the same time, complications are reduced because less radiation is administered to surrounding healthy tissue.

Currently, radiation oncologists at Siteman are investigating ways to expand the capability of the Trilogy and TomoTherapy systems. They are evaluating new applications for both systems that will benefit patients in the future.