Heartland Oncology adds new radiation machine

Dr. Michael Sombeck said it will only be in rare instances in which a patient needing radiation treatment will have to leave Highlands County.

That's due to a new machine called the 2100 IX Varian that is available at Heartland Oncology Partners, located next to Florida Hospital Heartland Division, in Sebring.

"It's a machine that allows us to conform a radiation dose more tightly around our target than we were able to do with previous machinery," Sombeck said. "It still works on the same basic concept it just has some new bells and whistles that gives us a few more arrows in our quiver in order to combat cancers."

"It's more precise, yields less collateral damage to the surrounding normal tissues surrounding a tumor than our previous technology," he added.

Sombeck noted that the nice thing about the Varian is that it is "much more upgradeable" than the previous machine.

"As the vendors come out with new technologies, we can add those on to this machine where we couldn't previously," he said.

The 10 doctors in the group are thrilled to have acquired it. Sombeck said the doctors have committed to servicing the community with high technology equipment and that's crucial in a high-tech field like radiation oncology.

They have made a substantial investment. The cost of the machine - $2.4 million.

"They are very expensive machines," he said. "They are very expensive because they have a lot of checks and balances within them to assure proper treatment is delivered."

Patients started being treated by the new technology in early January.

The machine is housed in a new vault, which is larger than the old one and has thicker shielding walls. Sombeck said its concrete walls are between four and eight feet thick "in order to protect any of the surrounding areas from radiation doses." People go into the vault through a lead door.

"If a hurricane hits that's the safest place to be," he said.

An open house has tentatively been planned for March at Heartland Oncology, 4416 Sun 'n Lake Blvd.