SEAFORD — A new state-of-the-art Varian TrueBeam linear accelerator is operational for radiation treatments at the Allen Cancer Center at TidalHealth Nanticoke.

The technology is made possible through the continued generosity of Barbara and Chick Allen and their devotion to improving health care for the western Sussex County community.

The unit, dedicated with a ribbon cutting Wednesday, aligns the center with the accelerators at TidalHealth’s Richard A. Henson Cancer Institute in Salisbury and Ocean Pines, Maryland.

“That’s important for not only continuity of care but also for our Delaware patients, who previously had to travel to Maryland for highly advanced procedures like stereotactic radiosurgery and stereotactic body radiation therapy,” said Dr. John Mansueti, executive medical director of cancer services.

“Each of these specialized treatments is designed to provide highly focused, tightly conformed and precise beams of radiation to destroy tumors, while sparing surrounding tissue and greatly reducing the number of times and the duration of time patients must spend on the treatment table.”

TrueBeam — designed to provide those treatments, as well as others — is essential to streamlining care and providing the best care possible, while ensuring accuracy, preserving healthy tissue, reducing treatment times and addressing a range of clinical cases and cancer lesions or tumors. The unit also features a new motion management system called IDENTIFY, which provides submillimeter setup accuracy, as well as corrects for any patient motion during treatment.

“Our new TrueBeam linear accelerator is just the latest weapon the TidalHealth Allen Cancer Center has to battle cancer,” said Dr. William Woods, the primary radiation oncologist at the center.

“At TidalHealth, we ensure that all our patients in southern Delaware and the surrounding communities receive the best and most appropriate radiation treatment, and that it is delivered with the utmost care and precision.”