THE St. Luke's Medical Center–Quezon City announced Friday that it is now offering TrueBeam Edge radiotherapy for cancer patients.
Dr. Dennis Serrano, president and CEO of St. Luke's Medical Center, said the new technology marks a significant advancement in cancer treatment, providing Filipino patients with access to world-class radiation therapy.
"The TrueBeam Edge gives us the cutting edge in technology for radiation oncology. This is our commitment to the Filipino people — to provide the best care on par with the rest of the world," Serrano said.
The first in the country, TrueBeam Edge delivers personalized, faster, more precise treatment with less tissue damage and real-time tumor tracking for cancer patients.
"One lesion will take 20 to 30 minutes; we expect this machine to take less than six minutes," said Dr. Kenneth Sy, unit head of St. Luke’s Radiation Oncology Department.
The system features real-time six-dimensional tumor tracking, respiratory monitoring, and ultra-fine 2.5-millimeter collimators that enable doctors to accurately target even very small tumors while sparing surrounding healthy tissue.
"So, how we find them now is with a very fine 2.5 millimeter; we can really get good coverage now, even with smaller lesions," Sy added, noting some patients may have their treatment covered by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), particularly less complicated cases.
"PhilHealth is a great equalizer — you can have your treatment here for almost the same price. The only advantage we have here in St. Luke's is we have three machines, so if one goes down, we can use the other two, and most facilities have one machine," he said.