Linear Accelerator, Department of Radiation Oncology, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina

        The Leo Jenkins Cancer Center houses three linear accelerators. These linear accelerators (linacs) use high frequency electromagnetic waves to accelerate electrons to high energies. These high-energy electrons themselves can be used to treat cancer or they can be made to strike a target and produce x-rays, which can also be used to treat cancer. A linear accelerator that can produce both photons and electrons is called a dual-energy machine. The advantage of a dual energy machine is that it allows the radiation oncologist to have more treatment choices that are specific to different cancer types.
        Because of our commitment to bring the most up to date cancer treatment available to the people of eastern North Carolina, the ECU School of Medicine has installed state of the art linear accelerators that allow the intensity of the beams to be changed therefore enabling the radiation oncologists to deliver the prescribed dose of radiation more precisely and at the same time spare more of the normal tissue. This approach to cancer treatment is called Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT).
        We have gone one step beyond this and installed a linac/CT combination. This combination allows an even greater level of accuracy to be achieved and is called Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT).