Record demand for Varian's RapidArc radiotherapy treatment

29 April 2008

Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) has announced it has received more than 60 orders for its new RapidArc radiotherapy product for faster image-guided intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). RapidArc orders have been concentrated in North America but have also come in from Europe and Asia since the product was introduced to the market in January, according to the company.

“We are delighted with the early interest in RapidArc, which promises to be a formidable weapon in the battle against cancer,” says Tim Guertin, president and CEO of Varian Medical Systems.

“This represents the strongest demand for any new product in our history and reflects the need for faster, more user-friendly systems that enable clinics to offer more patients greater access to advanced image-guided IMRT treatments with precision and quality." The company expects to begin shipment of the RapidArc product before the end of this month.

RapidArc delivers a complete volumetric IMRT treatment in a single arc of the treatment machine around the patient and makes it possible to deliver advanced image-guided, intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) two to eight times faster than is possible with conventional IMRT, including helical tomotherapy.

Treatment planning analyses show that RapidArc matches or exceeds the precision of conventional IMRT systems and spares more of the healthy tissue surrounding the tumour. Clinical studies on radiotherapy correlate the ability to spare more healthy tissue with reduced complications and better outcomes.

Todd Scarbrough, MD, medical director of the MIMA Cancer Center in Melbourne, Florida, says, “The largest, most easily quantifiable gain which RapidArc offers is an improvement in treatment time. There is no other system on the market which can offer a standard (1.8-2.0 gray) daily radiation dose, as an IMRT treatment, in a 2 minute timeframe. Furthermore, with this dramatic improvement in treatment time, there is no trade-off in any other area. If anything, there is an improvement—although modest in many cases—in dose distribution, and also less total scatter ‘out-of-field’ dose to the patient.”

Dr. Ben Slotman of VU Medical Center in Amsterdam supports this, saying, “The benefits of fast RapidArc treatments are many — faster treatment delivery has an economic benefit because more patients can be treated with more advanced techniques at a lower cost to public healthcare systems. In addition to improving patient comfort, shorter treatment times can enhance treatment quality by reducing the risk of patient movement during treatment. It is also clear that when a dose distribution is more conformal to the tumour or enables better avoidance of critical structures, a higher dose can be given, with better options for treatment and lower risks of side effects.”

"In modern cancer treatments it’s important for treatment machines to be versatile,” says Mohan Suntha, MD, of the University of Maryland Department of Radiation Oncology. “Radiation oncologists need to be able to deliver high quality arc therapy for prostate and head and neck tumours, but you also need to deliver fixed beam treatments for breast cancer in order to avoid unnecessary exposure of the heart and lung; you need motion management for lung cancer treatments; and electron beam treatments for lesions on or near the skin. To have a single machine that offers all these treatments in a high quality fashion is the best approach for our patients.”

Each year 10.9 million people worldwide are diagnosed with cancer and there are 6.7 million deaths from the disease. The global number of new cancer diagnoses is predicted to increase to 15 million per annum by 2020 and 20 million per annum by 2050. Radiotherapy is currently used in up to 60% of all cancer treatments.

Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames.	Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames. Record demand for Varian's RapidArc radiotherapy treatment 29 April 2008 Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) has announced it has received more than 60 orders for its new RapidArc radiotherapy product for faster image-guided intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). RapidArc orders have been concentrated in North America but have also come in from Europe and Asia since the product was introduced to the market in January, according to the company. “We are delighted with the early interest in RapidArc, which promises to be a formidable weapon in the battle against cancer,” says Tim Guertin, president and CEO of Varian Medical Systems. “This represents the strongest demand for any new product in our history and reflects the need for faster, more user-friendly systems that enable clinics to offer more patients greater access to advanced image-guided IMRT treatments with precision and quality." The company expects to begin shipment of the RapidArc product before the end of this month. RapidArc delivers a complete volumetric IMRT treatment in a single arc of the treatment machine around the patient and makes it possible to deliver advanced image-guided, intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) two to eight times faster than is possible with conventional IMRT, including helical tomotherapy. Treatment planning analyses show that RapidArc matches or exceeds the precision of conventional IMRT systems and spares more of the healthy tissue surrounding the tumour. Clinical studies on radiotherapy correlate the ability to spare more healthy tissue with reduced complications and better outcomes. Todd Scarbrough, MD, medical director of the MIMA Cancer Center in Melbourne, Florida, says, “The largest, most easily quantifiable gain which RapidArc offers is an improvement in treatment time. There is no other system on the market which can offer a standard (1.8-2.0 gray) daily radiation dose, as an IMRT treatment, in a 2 minute timeframe. Furthermore, with this dramatic improvement in treatment time, there is no trade-off in any other area. If anything, there is an improvement—although modest in many cases—in dose distribution, and also less total scatter ‘out-of-field’ dose to the patient.” Dr. Ben Slotman of VU Medical Center in Amsterdam supports this, saying, “The benefits of fast RapidArc treatments are many — faster treatment delivery has an economic benefit because more patients can be treated with more advanced techniques at a lower cost to public healthcare systems. In addition to improving patient comfort, shorter treatment times can enhance treatment quality by reducing the risk of patient movement during treatment. It is also clear that when a dose distribution is more conformal to the tumour or enables better avoidance of critical structures, a higher dose can be given, with better options for treatment and lower risks of side effects.” "In modern cancer treatments it’s important for treatment machines to be versatile,” says Mohan Suntha, MD, of the University of Maryland Department of Radiation Oncology. “Radiation oncologists need to be able to deliver high quality arc therapy for prostate and head and neck tumours, but you also need to deliver fixed beam treatments for breast cancer in order to avoid unnecessary exposure of the heart and lung; you need motion management for lung cancer treatments; and electron beam treatments for lesions on or near the skin. To have a single machine that offers all these treatments in a high quality fashion is the best approach for our patients.” Each year 10.9 million people worldwide are diagnosed with cancer and there are 6.7 million deaths from the disease. The global number of new cancer diagnoses is predicted to increase to 15 million per annum by 2020 and 20 million per annum by 2050. Radiotherapy is currently used in up to 60% of all cancer treatments. Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames. To top	Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames.