Varian Medical Systems to Exhibit TrueBeam™ System and RapidArc Radiotherapy Enhancements at 2010 American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Meeting

PHILADELPHIA, July 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Varian Medical Systems' new TrueBeam™ system for image-guided radiotherapy and radiosurgery will be publicly exhibited for the first time next week at the 2010 meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) here.  During the meeting running from July 18-22, Varian (NYSE: VAR) will also exhibit its next generation Gated RapidArc® radiotherapy technology together with other products for planning and delivering treatments. Varian's cancer treatment technologies are central to presentations and posters slated for presentation at the scientific meeting.

The Varian Exhibit

Varian's TrueBeam is a fully-integrated system designed from the ground up to treat moving tumors with unprecedented speed and accuracy.  It incorporates numerous technical innovations that dynamically synchronize imaging, patient positioning, motion management, and treatment delivery during radiotherapy or radiosurgery.  The system delivers dose more than twice as fast as any other linear accelerator and streamlines workflow to significantly reduce the number of steps needed to complete a treatment.  "This system opens the door to major advances in cancer treatment," said Karla Donohoe, senior marketing director for Varian's Oncology Systems business.

"With Gated RapidArc we have now made it possible to compensate for breathing-related tumor motion during RapidArc treatments, giving clinicians new options for treating their lung cancer patients," Donohoe said.  Gated RapidArc will be demonstrated together with tools that simplify and increase the efficiency of the RapidArc planning process.  The new Arc Geometry Tool within the Eclipse™ treatment planning system offers clinicians many more tumor targeting options by calculating plans that use sophisticated combinations of partial arcs, multiple arcs and changes in the position of the patient couch.

The Varian exhibit will also include treatment planning capabilities for brachytherapy and proton therapy as well as software for image management and review.

Scientific Presentations and Posters

"We are deeply gratified to see the broad spectrum of scientific and clinical research presentations this year that are based on work carried out using Varian technology," said Donohoe. "This is work with the potential to generate new life-saving approaches to treating cancer."  

This year's scientific program includes presentations on the following topics:

• Varian's new TrueBeam™ system: new approaches to motion management, working with the system's high intensity beam delivery mode, and characterizing the dosimetric properties of the new system. 
• RapidArc for delivering radiosurgery, for treating pediatric brain tumors, and for treating tumors of the prostate, the left breast, the head and neck, and the spine.
• The Eclipse™ treatment planning system and its use in partial breast irradiation, for adapting head and neck cancer treatments, and for planning hypofractionated prostate cancer treatments.
• Strategies for using Varian imaging tools to localize tumors and manage motion during treatment.

Varian Users Meeting at AAPM

Varian will conduct its Users Meeting on Saturday, July 17, from 11 am to 6 pm, when experts from across North America will cover topics including: TrueBeam capabilities and how they could impact the future of cancer treatment; choosing between RapidArc, IMRT and other forms of conformal therapy; advances in brachytherapy dose calculation; using images in treatment planning, and maximizing safety through QA procedures.

Varian Emerging Technologies Symposium at AAPM

Varian will also hold a lunchtime symposium from noon to 1:30 pm on Tuesday, July 20 with  presentations on early clinical work with the TrueBeam system and strategies for using respiration-correlated (i.e. 4-D) images for when planning treatments of moving tumors.  The TrueBeam system's non-clinical Developer Mode for supporting clinical research and unlocking innovation will also be featured at the symposium.

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 5,000 people who are located at manufacturing sites in North America, Europe, and China and approximately 79 sales and support offices around the world. For more information, visit http://www.varian.com.

SOURCE Varian Medical Systems, Inc.