Varian Medical Systems Spotlights Advanced Disease Specific Options at ESTRO 2012 in Barcelona

BARCELONA, Spain, May 8, 2012  /PRNewswire/ -- Varian Medical Systems (NYSE:VAR), the world leader in radiotherapy, is demonstrating its full range of disease specific treatment options at the 31st meeting of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology here in Barcelona this week. As this year's meeting is combined with the annual World Congress of Brachytherapy, Varian's booth will also focus strongly on the company's leading range of brachytherapy equipment and software.

Treatment options for lung, liver, prostate, head/neck, breast and pancreas cancer will be spotlighted along with the company's full range of advanced linear accelerator and brachytherapy devices and software.

Varian's TrueBeam™ platform for advanced radiotherapy and radiosurgery, the company's advanced treatment platform, will be on display along with the RapidArc® image-guided intensity-modulated radiotherapy system.  The latest version of the ARIA® oncology information management suite will also be on show. This new comprehensive paperless system personalizes data to the specific user, streamlines a department's workflow, and enhances automation for greater ease of use. Also featured are significant advances to Varian's market-leading Eclipse™ treatment planning software that make planning more straightforward and intuitive, such as new SmartSegmentation® Knowledge-Based Contouring, which uses expert cases as atlases to automatically outline different patients' anatomical structures for treatment planning.

Varian's advanced motion management capabilities have been further enhanced by the acquisition and incorporation of the Calypso real-time tracking system into the Varian family of products, and the latest Calypso systems will also be showcased at ESTRO.

Siemens Collaboration
Visitors to the Varian booth can discover more information about the recently-announced marketing and distribution collaboration with Siemens Healthcare. Under the terms of this agreement – announced on April 25th – Varian will represent Siemens diagnostic imaging products such as CT, PET/CT or MRI to radiation oncology clinics globally beginning immediately in most international markets and expanding to North America later this year. The two companies will also investigate opportunities for joint development of new products for image-guided radiotherapy and radiosurgery.

Siemens, which recently exited the radiation oncology treatment market, will offer Varian's treatment equipment and software to its oncology customers. Furthermore, Varian and Siemens will develop interfaces that will enable connecting Varian's ARIA oncology information system software with Siemens accelerators and imaging systems to give clinics more options for improving workflow and streamlining their operations. The collaboration enables Varian and Siemens to co-develop and offer cancer treatment centers new imaging and treatment solutions utilizing the strengths and technology of both companies.

Brachytherapy
Varian BrachyTherapy will be highlighting further integration between the company's family of afterloader systems and the ARIA oncology information suite, focusing on the system's dose tracking capability, as well as displaying the company's fast and flexible brachytherapy treatment planning systems BrachyVision™, VariSeed™ and Vitesse™.

Proton Therapy
The Varian booth is also spotlighting the company's ProBeam™ proton therapy system which is being installed in new proton therapy clinics globally. The ProBeam system incorporates pencil-beam scanning technology, which optimizes the dose applied to every point within the area being treated. Several new ProBeam features will be demonstrated in the Varian booth, including a new user interface, a more compact robotic patient positioner and advanced imaging capabilities for precise patient setup verification and correction utilizing planar imaging and 3D kV cone CT imaging. 

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 and digital detectors 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 6,000 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.

* Devices mentioned in this press release may not have obtained regulatory clearance yet or are currently not available in all markets. ProBeam™ does not currently have CE marking. ProBeam™ will meet all applicable laws and regulations prior to being placed on the market.

SOURCE Varian Medical Systems