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The Swedish Cancer Institute (SCI), based in Seattle,
Washington and part of Swedish Medical Center, opened in 1932
as the first dedicated cancer care center west of the
Mississippi. Today, the SCI is the Pacific Northwest’s largest
cancer treatment and clinical research center, bringing
together the region’s most advanced cancer fighting resources
and setting the highest standards for patient care.
The SCI, which provides care at numerous sites throughout the
Seattle metro area, has been an IMPAC client since 1992 – with
systems that support radiation oncology as well as cancer
registry. Using advanced technology that includes IMPAC
interfacing with the Elekta Synergy™ and Elekta Precise™, in
addition to use of Elekta’s Gamma Knife® Radiosurgery, SCI has
become a leader in radiation oncology treatment. By selecting
Elekta, Swedish was able to ‘plug in’ state-of-the-art IGRT
capability without giving up their existing planning system,
third-party positioning technology, and the IMPAC oncology EMR.
The implementation of the Elekta accelerators went smoothly. The
first Elekta unit went operational at their affiliated Highline
Medical Center site in July 2005. And in August, their Swedish
Medical Center/First Hill site started using new Synergy and
Precise accelerators. Use of Synergy is now up to 23 patients
per day, with Precise treating 19 patients daily. Cindy Kearney,
manager of the radiation oncology department states, “The
implementation of the new Elekta accelerators was very smooth;
even better than we expected. The therapists at the Highline
site quickly came up to speed on the use of this new (to us)
brand of accelerator. They were also pleased to find that they
didn’t have to learn a new way to treat patients in the IMPAC
system because the user interface is the same or nearly the same
no matter what brand of accelerator you use.”
Cindy adds, “As a long time user of the IMPAC system, we are
very pleased with IMPAC’s ability to interface with treatment
equipment from multiple vendors. It provides us with flexibility
to select best-of-breed technology that further enables us to
present viable options to our patients. The therapists like the
ease-of-use of their new accelerators, especially the portal
imaging functionality. The images are saved on the XVI and
automatically sent to the IMPAC image-enabled chart for
physician review.”
Based on their positive experience, Cindy’s staff formulated a
plan to bring up the main site in August. Therapists rotated
through the Highline site and then participated in applications
training for five days at the First Hill campus. The machines
were brought online within one week of each other with very few
issues. Staff at both the main site at First Hill and the
Highline site are looking forward to upcoming training on their
new Cone Beam CT technology and incorporating it into the
treatment process. |
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Swedish Cancer Institute, Seattle, Washington |
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[Email
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