In this golden autumn, together with ushering in a new era of enhancing the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, the first medical linear accelerator Versa HD in Northwest China, introduced by the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, was put into clinical use recently in the Department of Oncological Radiotherapy.
The Versa HD, a very subversive tumor radiotherapy product, integrates the most advanced radiotherapy accelerator, ultrasound-guided radiotherapy system, respiratory gating guided radiotherapy system and radiotherapy process management software into one platform, which can protect normal tissues to the greatest extent while achieving effective treatment, and improve the cure rate of tumors and the survival rate of patients. In a month, a team of physicists and engineers from the Department of Oncological Radiotherapy has carried out a series of acceptance work against installed Versa HD including measurement, debugging and verification. Fortunately, this product has met the international advanced standard (TG142# report) in terms of all performance indicators and has been officially put into clinical use. After completing the test of Versa HD, the Department of Oncological Radiotherapy of the First Affiliated Hospital successfully hosted the national conference “2018 Forum of Cancer Radiotherapy Progress”. At that time, radiotherapy experts from Shaanxi Province gathered in the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University to visit the Versa HD, winning praises from visiting experts due to its performance and usage.
2018 tumor radiotherapy progress forum and radiotherapy experts from Shaanxi province visiting Versa HD Equipment
When the Versa HD was officially put into the clinical use, Director Zhang Xiaozhi cooperated with members from the departmental affairs committee, brought into full play the strength of this equipment and provided patients with complex and intractable diseases with radiotherapy service. Thanks to the close cooperation of clinical physicians, physicists, engineers and technicians of the department, the committee has successively completed the treatment of patients with complex lesions, such as the pleural irradiation, multi-target (5-10 lesions) irradiation and ultra-large lesion irradiation. With the radiotherapy technique, it can effectively cure treatment-resistant tumors. For example, in the past, patients with pleural lesions were unable to be treated due to limited lung volume. Now, with advantages of the fine blade of 5mm, high efficiency modulation and highly optimized treatment, in the treatment of patients with pleural lesions, the Versa HD equipment can give a lethal dose to the tumor on the premise of protecting normal tissues such as lung, thus improving the cure rate of tumor and the survival rate of patients.
Lesions of patients receiving pleural irradiation and distribution of therapeutic dose
With an advanced ultrasound-guided radiotherapy system built in Versa HD, it can remedy the defect of the previous guided radiotherapy system failing to identify soft tissues. What’s more, this system can precisely differentiate soft tissue tumors and normal organs and accurately judge the location and deformation of tumors before and during treatment, and guide the radiotherapy.
Versa HD Ultrasound-guided radiotherapy for patients with prostate cancers
The Versa HD is also equipped with the Active Breathing Control (ABC), which can treat tumors in the chest and abdomen suffered from the respiratory movement. This technology allows patients to be in a state of suffocation, keeping the thorax and tumor at rest while breathing. Therefore, it can hit the tumor accurately in the treatment, providing excellent treatment result.
Versa HD Active Breathing Control (ABC) guiding the radiotherapy of patients with prostate cancers
The Department of Oncological Radiotherapy of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University has successfully applied various Versa HD technologies to the treatment of patients who had suffered from various difficult diseases, raising hope of life for some patients who have given up treatment. These technologies will surely bring better treatment effect to patients, and will also assist our hospital in fulfilling the goal of “A” in clinical and medical disciplines, thus significantly improving the overall medical level of tumor radiotherapy in the whole province and even the northwest region.
