The University of Toledo’s Medical Center purchases $3 million machine

Local cancer patients now have a treatment option close to home. The Eleanor N. Dana Cancer Center at the University of Toledo Medical Center introduced a new cancer treatment machine called the Varian Edge.

Krishna Reddy, a physician of radiation oncology at UTMC, said, “We wanted to bring that here so patients wouldn’t have to go to Ann Arbor or Michigan or other places to get that same sophisticated treatment.”

UTMC purchased the Varian Edge in 2014. UTMC had already purchased True Beam technology, a machine that performed a similar function, two and a half years earlier. Brandi Barhite, media relations specialist for UTMC, said both pieces of equipment were purchased for $3 million each.

According to Reddy, both the Edge and the True Beam create X-rays, which allows the physicians to pinpoint exactly where they want the radiation to go.

Both True Beam and Varian Edge perform a non-invasive removal of tumors in difficult areas of the body, including the brain, spine, and lungs. Reddy likened the differences between the two to those between iPhone updates.

“If that’s [True Beam] like the iPhone 5, then the Edge is like the iPhone 8,” Reddy said. “Every generation of radiation oncology treatment machine, just like every generation of iPhone — it has more and more features, more and more advancements that makes its job even better.”

The way treatment is performed is individualized from patient to patient. Some may use Edge or True Beam pre- or post-surgery, while others may use it after traditional chemotherapy.

“Sometimes people just have Edge or True Beam; no chemo or radiation,” Barhite said.

Michelle Giovanoli, technical manager of the radiation oncology department, is a breast cancer survivor who received treatment post-surgery and post-chemotherapy using True Beam.

“They can either do it in combination,” Giovanoli said. “You can have concurrent chemo-radiation, which means you’re getting them both at the same time, or you can get them pre or post [surgery], one or the other. It just depends on the patient and the type of cancer and the stage.”

“I would put less emphasis on whether it’s True Beam or Edge and more on how we need to go about treating that patient from a radiation standpoint,” Reddy said.

It’s important to acknowledge why having this type of technology is important, especially at a university, according to Reddy.

“We want … the best at a university,” Reddy said. “I think a lot of people realized that a university-level care means something. And that’s something we wanted to be associated with.”

For more information about the cancer-fighting technology at UTMC, visit http://tinyurl.com/o7shorz.