BRYAN, Texas — St. Joseph Health's new Varian Edge Linear Accelerator is the first of its kind here in the Brazos Valley. According to Dr. Jaime Pawlowski, patients normally would have to travel hours for this kind of care.
"There are other machines in the greater Houston area that can do this," Pawlowski said. "At Baylor and MD Anderson and Methodist. So we now have this here in the Brazos Valley."
The Varian Edge provides precise doses of radiation down to milometers to tumors that are hard to reach or that are located close to vital organs.
"This machine not only has that level of precision and accuracy of treating things that are within the brain and things that are very small and localized," Pawlowski said. "Also we will very soon have the capability of monitoring the surface of people's bodies."
According to Radiation Oncologist Scott Goble at St. Joseph Health, there have been between five to ten patients treated with the Varian Edge, with more and more being treated.
"We have new patients starting on the machine practically every day and so we're also are now scheduling some of these specialty treatments that we can deliver with this machine," Goble said.
Along with technology that is the best in the business, the people of Brazos Valley can now stay closer to family and loved ones during their toughest times in the fight against cancer.
"Patients being able to get the care they need in the comfort of their own home is just tremendous without having to drive, you know to Houston," Goble said. "A lot of times when our radiation treatment is daily treatment over numbers of weeks."
While most patients receive radiation for tumors of the lung, brain and spine, the Varian Edge can be used for all other areas of the body where radiation is indicated.
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