MERCY HEALTH PARTNERS ADDS SECOND LINEAR ACCELERATOR

ARMED WITH FASTER, STRONGER CANCER KILLING TECHNOLOGY
MHP only cancer center in Michigan to offer specialized, high-tech treatment

Muskegon, Mich. – Oct. 5, 2009 – Mercy Health Partners (MHP) Johnson Family Center for Cancer Care today announced that it has added a second linear accelerator using RapidArc™ radiotherapy technology. RapidArc™ delivers advanced image-guided treatments two to eight times faster than is possible with conventional or standard intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatments.

            RapidArc™ gives MHP the ability to deliver a highly accurate radiation treatment in a very short time frame. Using standard radiation treatments, patients are typically required to lie perfectly still for as long as 20 minutes. However, with RapidArc™, MHP oncology patients can now receive an entire radiation dose in less than two minutes.

MEDIA NOTE: MHP can arrange for a patient demonstration of RapidArc™.

            The addition of a second linear accelerator underscores MHP’s commitment to providing innovative cancer treatment technology to the entire region, said Nina Johnson, MD, Mercy Health Partners’ medical director for radiation oncology.

            “We continue to grow our legacy of enhancing the quality of care we provide to those with cancer throughout the region,” Johnson said. “Now we can double the number of patients we reach with the world class, sophisticated cancer fighting technology.”

            RapidArc™  technology allows cancer fighting radiation beams to match the shape and size of each patient’s individual tumor. Because RapidArc™  is able to so precisely shape the radiation beam
to the tumor, the healthy tissues surrounding the cancer receive less radiation, which can lead to fewer side effects following treatment, Johnson added. 

            “This helps us accomplish three main objectives; increase radiation dose to the target or tumor improving outcomes, decrease dose to the normal surrounding tissues which will decrease short and long term side effects and reduce the patients’ treatment time,” she said.

            For more MHP’s Johnson Family Center for Cancer Care commitment to providing world-class cancer care, go to mghp.com/services/cancer.

About Mercy Health Partners
           
Mercy Health Partners is a teaching hospital and the second largest health system in West Michigan with more than 4,000 associates, and some 21,000 inpatient discharges and 137,000 emergency/urgent care visits annually. The system has four hospitals and 375 physicians and offers a number of exclusive specialty physician care services for the region.