Varian Medical Systems to Showcase a Wide Spectrum of New and Updated Products That Improve Radiotherapy Treatment Processes at 2009 AAPM Meeting

ANAHEIM, Calif., July 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) will showcase a wide spectrum of new and updated products that improve and simplify the processes of radiotherapy and radiosurgery. Among the products on display will be a new version of the Eclipse™ radiotherapy treatment planning system, with five new features that enhance the product's speed, precision, and clinical flexibility. The new software release received FDA 510(k) clearance at the end of June.

Eclipse now incorporates the following features:

• Conformal optimization, which makes it easier and faster to plan 3-D conformal radiotherapy treatments by automatically adjusting beam angles, weights and modifiers that shape the treatment beam to meet specified dose objectives.
• Biological optimization, which enables the use of biological models based on clinical data to improve the quality of treatment plans.
• Biological evaluation, which presents information about the probability of achieving tumor control alongside the risk of damaging healthy tissues for a given treatment plan, so that the most helpful, least harmful approach can be more easily identified.
• Brachytherapy dosimetry (the Acuros™ module) for accurately calculating the dosimetry of brachytherapy treatments, which involve placing radioactive sources in or near a targeted tumor.
• New tools and enhancements that streamline planning for different types of radiation therapy, radiosurgery, and stereotactic body radiosurgery treatments.
  

"Each of these new capabilities either speeds up the planning process, brings biological data into the optimization equation, enhances accuracy, or adds flexibility," said Jeff Amacker, director of clinical solutions. "No two patients and no two tumors are alike. We are committed to providing clinicians with the flexibility and the tools they need to choose the optimal treatment approach for each and every patient, and then deliver that treatment."

Varian will also exhibit other products and capabilities at the 2009 meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), taking place here from July 26-30, including:

• A new "knowledge based" automatic segmentation tool (acquired last month from Houston-based IKOEmed and IKOEtech) that performs automatic contouring of tumors and surrounding anatomy by comparing diagnostic images with pre-contoured images from a database created by renowned radiation oncologists.
• PortalVision™ advanced imaging, which enables clinics without Varian's On-Board Imager™ device to use the mega-voltage treatment beam to generate images to guide patient positioning for image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT).
• A new version of Portal Dosimetry™, a quality assurance tool for radiotherapy treatment plans, with enhancements to the user interface and an improved workflow.
• Large-field IMRT, which makes it possible to create a single treatment plan for treating a large tumor and then deliver the treatment in one operation, rather than treating one small portion of the tumor at a time.
  

Varian's AAPM exhibit will also feature two demonstration stations:

• A remote access demonstration station showing how easily Varian software products can be accessed remotely, using different types of work stations and technology platforms.
• A "Works in Progress" area, which will highlight interfaces that have been developed to enable Varian technology to work with products like the Calypso® 4D Localization System™ to collect moment-to-moment information about the position of a targeted tumor, and adapt a patient's treatment accordingly. The technologies in this part of the exhibit are concept devices under development and not available for sale.
  

Varian Sponsored Users Meeting at AAPM

Prior to the start of the AAPM meeting, Varian Medical Systems will sponsor a Users Meeting at the Anaheim Hilton on Saturday, July 25, from 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Topics will include: technological advances in radiation oncology; RapidArc™ radiotherapy (clinical implementation and QA considerations); developing IGRT protocols; and BrachyVision Acuros™ treatment planning for heterogeneity-based HDR dose calculations. For more information about this event, visit http://www.varian.com/us/oncology/resources/events/aapm2009.html.

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 5,100 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.

    FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:
    Varian Medical Systems
    Meryl Ginsberg, (650) 424-6444

SOURCE Varian Medical Systems, Inc.

SOURCE: Varian Medical Systems, Inc.

Web site: http://www.varian.com/