State-of-the-art cancer treatment planned for UVM Health Network

Dan D'Ambrosio, Burlington Free Press
Updated ·3 min read

Over the next several years, The University of Vermont Health Network will install six new state-of-the-art linear accelerators for improved radiation treatments to combat cancer at Central Vermont Medical Center, The University of Vermont Medical Center and two northern New York hospitals − if it gets the green light from the Green Mountain Care Board.

The Green Mountain Care Board regulates major areas of the health care system in Vermont, and must approve major expenditures by hospitals. Network spokeswoman Annie Mackin said in an email Tuesday the new machines are expected to cost about $15 million over the next five years.

The UVM Health Network wants to install six new linear accelerators for improved radiation therapy at four of its hospitals, at a cost of $15 million. Shown here is the linear accelerator currently in use at The University of Vermont Health Network - Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital in northern New York.
The UVM Health Network wants to install six new linear accelerators for improved radiation therapy at four of its hospitals, at a cost of $15 million. Shown here is the linear accelerator currently in use at The University of Vermont Health Network - Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital in northern New York.

The Network is partnering with Palo Alto, California-based Varian to replace the six linear accelerators in the four hospitals, representing a significant upgrade in capabilities. Varian combined with Siemens Healthineers in 2021, and says on its website the combined companies address the "complete cancer care continuum," from diagnostics to imaging, therapy and follow-up care.

The Network expects the new machines to cut waiting times, provide better care and allow new forms of treatment.

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"Over time, (the new accelerators) will allow all of our sites to move patients through more quickly," Dr. H. James Wallace said in a statement. "With that efficiency comes improved access to timely treatment and simultaneously increases quality of care."

Wallace is radiation oncology chair for The UVM Health Network and medical director for cancer clinical programs for the UVM Cancer Center.

Linear accelerators target tumors with 'pinpoint accuracy'

Linear accelerators enable oncologists to target tumors with "pinpoint accuracy," according to a press release from The UVM Health Network, while also preventing harm to nearby healthy tissue. The machines are used to treat cancers in many areas of the body, including the brain, spine, lung, breast, esophagus, stomach, rectum, uterus, prostate, bladder, liver and bones.

Haleigh Thompson, a radiation therapist at The University of Vermont Health Network - Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital, operates a linear accelerator at the FitzPatrick Cancer Center in northern New York. The accelerator provides radiation treatments that target patient tumors with a high degree of accuracy, sparing nearby healthy tissue.
Haleigh Thompson, a radiation therapist at The University of Vermont Health Network - Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital, operates a linear accelerator at the FitzPatrick Cancer Center in northern New York. The accelerator provides radiation treatments that target patient tumors with a high degree of accuracy, sparing nearby healthy tissue.

Along with the new accelerators, the Network is planning to install new cloud-based software at the hospitals that will allow health system cancer experts to review patient treatment plans regardless of where in the Network a patient receives care. In the 2023 fiscal year, the four hospitals, which include Alice Hyde Medical Center and Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital in New York, provided 25,000 treatments using the linear accelerators.

The 2023 fiscal year began on Oct. 1, 2022, and ended on Sept. 30, 2023. The Network said the current linear accelerators have been in use for more than a decade.

Images from new accelerators will allow for 'adaptive treatment' of cancer

The new and upgraded accelerators will "open the door to a new form of radiation therapy," according to Wallace.

"This new machine will give us tremendous diagnostic CAT scan quality images with the patient very fast," Wallace said. "Those images will allow our providers to better see what the tumor looks like today and how it and the surrounding area have changed since yesterday. Based on that, thanks to the new software we'll be installing, we'll be able to change the radiation treatment from day to day with each patient as needed, optimizing how we attack the tumor and spare everything around it. It's called adaptive treatment, and it's a huge advantage for our patients."

The UVM Health Network is currently working on its application for a Certificate of Need from the Green Mountain Care Board. A Certificate of Need is required for any significant project by hospitals. If the CON is approved the Network expects to begin work on replacing the current linear accelerator at Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin later this year.

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Over the next several years the Network will install new accelerators at the other three hospitals: The UVM Medical Center, Alice Hyde Medical Center and Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital.

Contact Dan D’Ambrosio at 660-1841 or ddambrosi@gannett.com. Follow him on X @DanDambrosioVT.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: UVM Health Network wants to upgrade radiation cancer treatment