Pediatric Patient Treated Using RapidArc(TM) Radiotherapy Technology in Switzerland
December 22 2008 - 8:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
BELLINZONA, Switzerland, Dec. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A Swiss
cancer clinic is among the first in the world to use a new, faster
radiotherapy technology from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE:VAR) to
treat a child patient. A 12-year-old girl with Hodgkin's lymphoma
was treated using Varian's RapidArc(TM) technique at the Istituto
Oncologico della Svizzera Italiana (IOSI) in Bellinzona, southern
Switzerland. The girl received her targeted radiotherapy dose in
less than two and a half minutes, using two continuous revolutions
of the device while she lay on the treatment machine. The RapidArc
treatment was considerably faster than would have been possible
with conventional intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT)
treatments, which are slower and more difficult for radiotherapy
radiographers because they target tumors using a complex sequence
of fixed beams from multiple angles. "Treating children with cancer
is always challenging but RapidArc enables us to deliver extremely
precise treatments much more quickly than would have been possible
previously, making it a much more comfortable experience for the
patient while minimizing damage to healthy tissue," said radiation
oncologist Dr. Alessandra Franzetti-Pellanda. "Faster treatments
mean there is less chance for the patient to move during delivery,
which helps precision. It can also be uncomfortable lying on the
couch so to be able to reduce the time of treatment while enhancing
the precision is tremendously helpful." Dr. Franzetti-Pellanda
worked with head medical physicist Dr. Antonella Fogliata and
medical oncologist Dr. Pierluigi Brazzola to carry out the
pioneering treatment. "Lymphoma is a good candidate for
radiotherapy because it's a disease that is highly responsive to
radiation, even the lower doses that we use in pediatric cases,"
said Dr. Fogliata. "In this RapidArc treatment the bilateral lung
and the lymphatic chains were treated at once using a technique
called a simultaneous integrated boost and we are very pleased with
the response." Rolf Staehelin, Varian's European marketing
director, adds, "This is an extraordinary achievement by the team
at IOSI and it demonstrates that RapidArc can be beneficial for
highly complex indications such as Hodgkin's lymphoma as well as
more conventional tumor sites such as prostate and head &
neck." IOSI became the first hospital in Switzerland to commence
treatments using RapidArc in November. The hospital treats 700
patients a year on two Varian Clinac(R) medical linear accelerators
and RapidArc volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) capability has
been added to one of these machines. RapidArc technology allows
more control to conform the dose more closely to the size, shape,
and location of the tumor. Faster treatment also contributes to
precision by reducing the time for motion within the anatomy, and
laboratory studies suggest that faster dose delivery may kill some
cancer cells more effectively. 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, proton therapy, 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 and digital detectors for X-
ray imaging in medical, scientific, and industrial applications and
also supplies X-ray imaging products for cargo screening and
industrial inspection. Varian Medical Systems employs approximately
4,800 people who are located at manufacturing sites in North
America and Europe and in its 60 sales and support offices around
the world. For more information, visit http://www.varian.com/.
DATASOURCE: Varian Medical Systems CONTACT: Neil Madle of Varian
Medical Systems, +44 7786 526068 Web site: http://www.varian.com/
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