Varian Medical Systems to Showcase Advanced Technologies for Treating Cancer with Image-Guided Radiotherapy and Radiosurgery at JASTRO Meeting in Tokyo, Japan

TOKYO, Nov. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Varian Medical Systems, Inc. (NYSE: VAR), the leading manufacturer of medical devices for treating cancer, will exhibit the company's advanced technologies for image-guided radiotherapy and radiosurgery at the 25^th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (JASTRO) here later this week.  During the meeting, Varian will also sponsor a luncheon seminar on the latest developments in stereotactic radiosurgery and stereotactic body radiotherapy—quick and non-invasive procedures that use high-energy X-rays to treat tumors in the brain or body.

Varian's booth at the meeting will showcase the company's latest products, including the TrueBeam™ medical linear accelerator for image-guided radiotherapy and radiosurgery, offering the high dose delivery rates, precision, and speed needed for precise radiosurgery and stereotactic body radiotherapy procedures.  

Varian personnel will also be on hand to demonstrate the latest releases of the ARIA® oncology information and Eclipse™ treatment planning software systems.  ARIA is a comprehensive information management solution that streamlines clinical processes, improves workflow, eliminates paper charts, and automates many aspects of managing complex cancer treatments.

"ARIA 11—the latest release—has been designed so that clinicians can personalize their home screen to easily access what they need, at the appropriate level of detail," said Makoto Yamada, sales manager for Varian in Japan.  "ARIA is now also more tightly integrated with the Eclipse system, enabling users to access both applications from a single workspace.  Clinics can configure the system to guide personnel through their daily tasks, and can set up workflows to incorporate safety checks as another quality assurance measure."

Varian Symposium on Stereotactic Radiosurgery

Varian will also sponsor a luncheon symposium on November 24, on the topic of stereotactic radiosurgery and stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT).  These quick and non-invasive procedures use carefully shaped high-energy X-ray beams to treat tumors in the brain or body.  Benjamin Slotman, MD, PhD, professor and chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, will detail his clinical experience treating patients with these approaches, using Varian's TrueBeam™ system and its High Intensity Mode for delivering very high doses with precision and speed.

Dr. Slotman is an international expert in the field of stereotactic irradiation, the treatment of small cell lung cancer, and the early clinical implementation of new technologies.  He has co-authored more than 200 peer reviewed publications, many on the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer using stereotactic approaches.[1]  Dr. Slotman is currently serving as principal investigator of a multicenter randomized trial on the role of thoracic irradiation in lung cancer patients.  He is also the associate editor of the Journal of Radiosurgery and SBRT.

The symposium will be chaired by Hiroki Shirato, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Radiation Medicine at the Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine.  Dr. Shirato is an internationally-known expert in the management of tumor motion, a very important aspect of treating cancer with stereotactic body radiotherapy, since tumors in the body often move during treatment due to respiration or other normal physiological processes.

[1] Some representative publications:

• Slotman BJ, Senan S. Radiotherapy in small---cell lung cancer: lessons learned and future directions. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 79, 998---1003, 2011.
• Lagerwaard FJ, Verstegen NE, Haasbeek CJ, Slotman BJ, Paul MA, Smit EF, Senan S. Outcomes of stereotactic ablative radiotherapy in patients with potentially operable stage I non-small cell lung cancer. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2012 May 1;83(1):348-53.
• Senthi S, Lagerwaard FJ, Haasbeek CJ, Slotman BJ, Senan S. Patterns of disease recurrence after stereotactic ablative radiotherapy for early stage non---small---cell lung cancer: a retrospective analysis. Lancet Oncol. 2012 Jun 21. [Epub ahead of print]

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 6,100 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, Inc.