Varian Receives Regulatory Clearance in India for Use of High
Intensity Mode on TrueBeam Medical Linear Accelerators
KOLKATA, India, Nov. 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Varian Medical
Systems (NYSE: VAR) has received regulatory clearance from the
Indian Atomic Energy Regulatory Board for the use of its unique
TrueBeam™ High Intensity Mode for advanced radiosurgical
treatments. The company's market-leading range of
radiotherapy and radiosurgery equipment and software, including the
TrueBeam medical linear accelerator, are on display in Kolkata this week at AROICON 2012, the
country's primary radiation oncology exhibition.
Dr. Vivek Bansal, director of
radiation oncology at HCG Cancer Hospital in Ahmedabad -- the first
hospital in India to commence
treating patients using the TrueBeam high intensity mode – said,
"We have used this modality for prostate, head & neck and lung
cancer patients, enabling quicker dose delivery and therefore
shorter treatments. Higher dose rates appear to offer considerable
benefits in organ motion management -- for example, larger dose
fractions have been delivered in a single breath-hold at our
center."
"We feel high intensity modes may become necessary for most
stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy and stereotactic
radiosurgery treatments in the future," said Dr. Bansal. "Our
experience is showing that high intensity mode treatments offer
particular advantages when treating the smaller field sizes
normally seen in such treatments."
Varian's TrueBeam was designed to treat tumors with
unprecedented speed and accuracy. It features a multitude of
technical innovations that dynamically synchronize imaging, patient
positioning, motion management, and treatment delivery. With its
High Intensity Mode, TrueBeam machines can deliver very high doses
quickly and precisely, more than twice as fast as earlier
generations of technology. The TrueBeam™ STx is a high-end
model optimized for radiosurgical applications, where very large
doses are delivered in a single treatment or only a few
sessions.
Such advanced treatments will be highlighted at an Emerging
Technologies Symposium that Varian is hosting at the ITC Sonar
Hotel on the first day of the AROICON exhibition, with
presentations on high dose single-fraction IGRT treatments with
TrueBeam STx, RapidArc® for head & neck treatments, and
advanced radiobiology and stereotaxy treatments, from presenters
including Prof. Carlo Greco of the
University of Pisa in Italy, Dr. Luca
Cozzi of the Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland in Bellinzona, and Dr.
Rimpa Basu Achari of Tata Medical Center in Kolkata.
"The high dose rates that only Varian can offer on its medical
linear accelerators are vital for the sort of stereotactic ablative
radiotherapy treatments that are used increasingly for primary
liver, liver metastasis and lung cancer treatments," said
Rolf Staehelin, international head
of marketing operations for Varian's Oncology Systems group.
"Regulatory approval means cancer patients in India can now benefit from such advanced
treatments."
"With the largest installed base of linear accelerators in
India and market-leading position
in new systems, Varian continues to equip the country's cancer
hospitals with technologies that make advanced radiotherapy
techniques fast and easy to deliver," added Ashok Kakkar, managing director of Varian India.
"We have also established a dedicated education center in
Mumbai because helping to train
the nation's radiotherapists and physicists in the safe and
effective use of Varian's products is crucial for the future care
of India's growing cancer
population."
Cancer in India
India has a population of over
a billion people and there are an estimated one million new cases
of cancer diagnosed in the country each year. The most common forms
of cancer for females in India are
cervical and breast, while lung and stomach are the leading cancers
for males.
Editorial contact: Neil Madle,
Varian Medical Systems, +44 7786 526068
About Varian Medical Systems
Varian Medical Systems, Inc., of Palo
Alto, California, is the world's leading manufacturer of
medical devices and software for treating cancer and other medical
conditions with radiotherapy, radiosurgery, and brachytherapy. The
company supplies informatics software for managing comprehensive
cancer clinics, radiotherapy centers and medical oncology
practices. Varian is a premier supplier of tubes, digital
detectors, and image processing workstations for X-ray imaging in
medical, scientific, and industrial applications and also supplies
high-energy X-ray devices for cargo screening and non-destructive
testing applications. Varian Medical Systems employs
approximately 6,100 people who are located at manufacturing sites
in North America, Europe, and China and approximately 70 sales and support
offices around the world. For more information, visit
http://www.varian.com or follow us on
https://twitter.com/VarianMedSys
SOURCE Varian Medical Systems