UPMC Hillman Cancer Center cuts ribbon on $6 million machine
BUTLER TWP — UPMC and Independence Health System publicly introduced a $6 million weapon in their arsenal against cancer during a ribbon cutting Monday, May 12.
The weapon, an Elekta Versa HD linear accelerator, is a massive cancer treatment machine which representatives from both Independence Health and UPMC say will make cancer treatment more accessible to those who need it in Butler County.
“This machine will allow us to have the latest and greatest radiation technology right here in our community,” said Karen Allen, co-president of Butler Memorial and Clarion hospitals.
A linear accelerator aims high-energy X-rays, or electrons, at the precise area of a cancer. Construction of the massive, nearly room-sized machine took nearly a year, and an entire wall had to be removed from its new home at Benbrook Medical Building on Technology Drive to accommodate it.
“What this machine does is generate X-rays with high precision and the ability to make them mold around tumors and try to avoid things that you don't want to treat as much as possible,” said Dr. Heath Skinner, chairman of UPMC’s Department of Radiation Oncology.
The Hillman Cancer Center’s Butler location opened in 2013 as a joint venture between UPMC and what was then Butler Health System. Since then, Butler Health System has merged with Excela Health to form Independence Health System.
The new machine will replace a similar, but older linear accelerator, which, according to oncologist Dr. Victor Onufrey, is not as capable.
“This one is faster in treating the patients,” Onufrey said, pointing to the new machine. “Would you rather be on a hard table getting treatment for 40 minutes or 15? It’s faster, and it can use additional technology and do additional treatments that are way more precise.”
Onufrey said the older machine will be decommissioned later this week.
Skinner said one of the advantages of the new machine is that it is capable of “stereotactic” cancer treatment.
“What it means is using the best imaging and the best quality delivery of radiation to target even very, very tiny tumors with great precision,” Skinner said. “We can treat tumors that we might not have been able to treat before with high doses per treatment, and potentially even fewer numbers of treatment.”
Skinner and Allen touted the new machine’s ability to make cancer treatment available to Butler County residents within a short drive.
“What’s so great about it is, people who are really sick who live in Butler and the surrounding area don’t have to travel to Pittsburgh to get the latest and greatest technology,” Allen said. “This will allow people to get care close to home.”
“If one needed the type of radiation I was describing, they probably would have had to travel, which is one of the reasons why we really wanted to bring this technology to the patients in this region,” Skinner said. “Our goal is to make sure that patients don't have to travel, because it's hard when you’re sick. No one wants to travel. We want to bring it here so patients don't have to do that.”
