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Company will showcase new capabilities designed to make radiotherapy and radiosurgery faster, easier, more accurate, and cost effective

Varian Medical Systems will highlight its new TrueBeam™ system for fast, powerful and efficient cancer treatments at the 52nd annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology ( ASTRO ) meeting in San Diego next week. Varian will also showcase Gated RapidArc®, as well as new software capabilities designed to make cancer treatments faster, easier, and more accurate while lowering the cost per treatment.

The TrueBeam System for Image-Guided Radiotherapy and Radiosurgery

The new TrueBeam system delivers high-precision image-guided radiotherapy and radiosurgery, treating a moving tumor with unprecedented speed and accuracy. It uses a completely re-engineered control system and a multitude of technical innovations to dynamically synchronize imaging, patient positioning, motion management, and treatment delivery. Designed to be a best-in-class and versatile platform, TrueBeam can be used for all forms of external beam image-guided radiotherapy and radiosurgery.

Gated RapidArc

Varian Medical Systems will also showcase Gated RapidArc radiotherapy, which is available on the company's TrueBeam, Trilogy®, and Clinac® iX linear accelerators. Gated RapidArc compensates for tumor motion while quickly delivering dose during a continuous rotation around the patient. This development enables the use of RapidArc to target lung tumors with greater precision by "gating" the beam—turning it on and off—in response to tumor motion.

Faster Treatment Planning

Also on display will be the 2010 release of the Eclipse™ treatment planning system, including the new Acuros® XB algorithm, which reduces the amount of time it takes to calculate a treatment plan for external beam radiotherapy. (See related press release, Varian Medical Systems Receives 510(k) Clearance for Acuros® XB Advanced Dose Calculation Algorithm).

Other enhancements in the new Eclipse release include:

• Tools that make it easier to generate RapidArc® plans for treating large tumor volumes using multiple arcs.
• A new arc geometry tool that gives planners a "leg up" by offering a starting point for RapidArc plans, reducing the amount of time spent in "trial and error" mode before arriving at the final plan.
• A PRO3 algorithm that optimizes RapidArc plans more quickly by a factor of two or more.
• Portal dosimetry for RapidArc, which enables clinicians to check the quality of treatments without using phantoms or film, which is more time consuming.
• A new workspace that allows for better integration of multimodality imaging in the treatment planning process and makes it easier to use PET scans for contouring.
• A SmartAdapt tool that helps clinicians made adaptations if a treatment plan should be changed due to tumor shrinkage, weight loss, or any other process affecting anatomy during a multiple-week course of treatment.

The ARIA® Oncology Information System: Meeting Certification Criteria

Enhancements to the ARIA® oncology information system for 2010 take important steps toward compliance with requirements that the federal government has established for certifying electronic health records under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). New capabilities this year include a web-based patient portal giving cancer patients access to their personal health information via the Internet. A new drug database for use in radiation oncology departments has also been added, along with a lab orders workspace for electronic ordering and tracking of tests and test results. "We have also added a feature that allows the clinical staff to capture information unrelated to cancer treatment, such as advanced directives and infectious diseases," said Charmaine Lawrence, marketing manager.

"In addition to the TrueBeam system, software enhancements have been a major focus for Varian Medical Systems this year, and this will be reflected in our exhibit at the ASTRO meeting," said Karla Donohoe, senior director of marketing. "We are committed to providing clinicians with powerful tools for targeting cancer and minimizing undesirable side effects, and to making those tools faster and easier to use so that more people can benefit."

Source: Varian Medical Systems