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St. Luke’s Allentown Campus is the first in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware to acquire the Varian Ethos therapy system, advancing treatment for cancer patients in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas. 

“Ethos adaptive radiation therapy is a ground-breaking innovation in cancer treatment,” said radiation oncologist Eleanor Harris, MD, Chief of Radiation Oncology at St. Luke’s University Health Network. “Adjusting our treatments to precisely match the patient’s specific anatomy and the position of the cancer every day has not been possible before. This is truly the definition of personalized medicine. This technology will allow us to significantly increase the accuracy of radiation treatments while reducing the side effects, and to treat more patients with more types of cancer.”

Wednesday, the new system – located at the St. Luke’s Cancer Center, 240 Cetronia Road, Allentown – went live. Ethos therapy is an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven holistic solution designed to increase radiotherapy’s capability, flexibility and efficiency. This new solution can deliver an entire adaptive treatment in a typical 15-minute timeslot, from patient setup through treatment delivery. The goal is to target the tumor better, reduce the dose to healthy tissue and potentially improve overall outcomes. 

“We are excited to bring this new personalized care to the Lehigh Valley and proud to be the first cancer center in Pennsylvania to offer this therapy to our patients,” said Mary-Kate Cellmer, MBA, administrator, St. Luke’s Cancer Center.

The streamlined workflow of Ethos therapy is enabled by its AI-driven planning and contouring capabilities. The physician defines their clinical intent from predefined templates, and the initial treatment plan is generated based on the physician’s intent. The treatment plan is adapted in response to the variability of the tumor’s shape and cellular characteristics, along with fluctuations in the tumor’s position due to changes in nearby organs.

Ethos therapy offers the use of multimodality images, such as Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) at the console. By providing an up-to-date view of the patient’s anatomy, Ethos therapy provides clinicians with the confidence to make more informed adaptive treatment decisions. The solution is built on Varian’s latest treatment delivery technology and provides fast imaging and treatment delivery without compromising quality.

“Every patient deserves access to the best and most personalized cancer care,” said Chris Toth, president, Varian Oncology Systems. “Adaptive therapy is the future of personalized radiation therapy, and we are excited that St. Luke’s Allentown Campus has chosen Ethos therapy. Powered by AI, Ethos will allow doctors and clinicians to adapt and personalize the dose to every patient, every day in a typical treatment timeslot. This is a transformational moment for cancer care.”