Leading Cancer Center among First in Europe to Treat Patients using Varian's TrueBeam 2.0 System with Six Degrees of Freedom Couch

VIENNA, Austria, April 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Kaiser-Franz-Josef Hospital in Vienna has become one of the first oncology departments in Europe to introduce clinical treatments using the PerfectPitch™ six-degrees-of-freedom robotic couch from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR).  The hospital has introduced this enhanced patient positioning device, which enables more flexibility during radiotherapy treatments, as an integrated element of its latest TrueBeam™ 2.0 treatment system.

The PerfectPitch system enables the patient to be positioned more flexibly during treatments, taking advantage of 'pitch and roll' positioning to optimize the treatment. "If the couch can pitch and roll as well as moving up, down and sideways, it gives us more precision and flexibility while imaging and treating, and it helps to reduce the time it takes to set-up the patient," says Dr. Anne-Marie Schratter-Sehn, head of radiation oncology at KFJ Hospital. "These additional positioning capabilities in combination with TrueBeam's advanced image guidance and motion management tools introduced with the TrueBeam 2.0 upgrade will enable us to extend our stereotactic radiosurgery capabilities and offer more patients a wider range of high precision radiotherapy and radiosurgery treatments."   

Varian's PerfectPitch couch, which has been designed for the precision and functionality required to deliver radiosurgery treatments in the brain and in the rest of the body, is an integrated six degrees of freedom (6DoF) robotic treatment couch that provides the means needed to position patients optimally, adjust their position to correct for any misalignments, and support them comfortably during treatment.  TrueBeam 2.0 enables integration and control of the PerfectPitch couch, as well as the use of advanced image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) and motion management capabilities, connectivity for real-time tracking solutions, and a new low-energy and low-dose imaging beam, all of which combine to offer fast and precise treatments.

Varian's TrueBeam 2.0 platform and PerfectPitch couch are among the products Varian is exhibiting at the ESTRO (European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology) meeting, taking place in Vienna from April 4^th-7^th.  Visitors to the Varian booth can sign up for clinical visits to see Kaiser-Franz-Josef Hospital's two TrueBeam STx systems in operation and speak to the clinical teams.

Kaiser-Franz-Josef, a busy public hospital treating 1500 patients each year, has a long history of pioneering advances in radiotherapy and radiosurgery. Almost 20 years ago, they were among the first centers in the world to introduce a unified oncology information and image management system and move from film to electronic imaging procedures, followed by early clinical adoption of intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) treatments and other innovations.

"We are extremely happy to have such a long-standing relationship with this center of excellence and support them in introducing even greater treatment capabilities for the benefit of patients," says Rolf Staehelin, Varian's head of international oncology marketing. "This truly illustrates our commitment to be 'partners for life' with our customers."

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 6,400 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 Twitter.

SOURCE Varian Medical Systems