LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- A Las Cruces hospital unveils a state-of-the-art cancer treatment technology that will allow the nearly 600 people diagnosed with cancer each year in Southern New Mexico a chance to get targeted radiation therapy.

Until mid-May, cancer patients who could have benefited from Tomotherapy radiation had to go to Albuquerque for treatment. But now, the eight weeks of treatment can be done in Las Cruces, with fewer dollars spent on hotels, and fewer hours of travel.

“They didn't have the machine here now they got it,” said Blas Vargas, a cancer patient from San Miguel

The Ikard Cancer Treatment Center has been part of the Las Cruces community, but new technology recently added can reduce or eliminate cancerous cells without destroying the healthy ones surrounding them.

“Right now we're using it for mostly prostate cancer, head and neck cancers, brain tumors and other tumors where we want to get a very high dose. We also want to protect the normal tissue,” said Cherie Hayostek, Chief Radiation Oncologist at the Ikard Center.

Vargas is a prostate cancer survivor, who traveled to Albuquerque for 44 tomotherapy treatments. He said Tomotherapy has made him healthier, and he is glad other Las Cruces patients won’t have to travel as far for treatment.

“I think they got rid of it. I think it's been a good success,” he said.

“When people get radiation therapy, they get treatments once a day Monday through Friday. For prostate cancer it's 42 treatments, that's 8 and a half weeks of daily treatment,” Hayostek said.

The Tomotherapy treatment system delivers radiation in a 360 degree arc, and it's the only one in the borderland.

“We are the only center in southern New Mexico or the El Paso area that has been accredited by the American College of Radiology and has a Tomotherapy unit.

And Vargas says it works, “I'm done. I finished the first of May. I think it got rid of the cancer.”

So far nine patients have used the new technology in Las Cruces. Breast cancer patients have been effectively treated using previous radiation therapy, but oncologists say Tomotherapy may soon be used for their treatment as well.