Pioneering Cancer Center Introduces Advanced Varian RapidArc(TM) Treatments for Cancer...

Pioneering Cancer Center Introduces Advanced Varian RapidArc(TM) Treatments
for Cancer Patients in Central Germany

NORDHAUSEN, Germany, Jan. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Three prostate
cancer patients have become the first people in Germany to be treated using a
new, faster form of radiotherapy that potentially enables doctors to improve
outcomes while extending more advanced care to more patients. Sudharz
Krankenhaus in Nordhausen delivered the faster treatment using RapidArc(TM)
radiotherapy technology from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR).
RapidArc delivers a precise and efficient treatment in a single or
multiple arcs of the treatment machine around the patient and makes it
possible to deliver advanced image-guided intensity modulated radiotherapy
(IMRT) two to eight times faster than is possible with conventional IMRT. At
Sudharz Krankenhaus Nordhausen, doctors have been able to reduce the treatment
time to just two and a half minutes compared with up to 30 minutes for complex
IMRT treatments.
"It is very gratifying for me to begin treatments using the most modern
moving arc method of radiotherapy," says Dr. Wolfgang Oehler, head of the
radiotherapy department. "The three patients are excited to be the first in
Germany to receive such treatments although the treatment was so quick that
one patient questioned whether he had received the full dose. We assured him
that he certainly had and he was pleased to only have to lie on the treatment
table for a short time."
Dr. Oehler said RapidArc was a valuable weapon in the hospital's goal of
bringing down waiting lists. "We knew we needed a brilliant new method of
shortening treatment times and avoiding waiting lists while improving the
quality of the treatment and it was not a hard decision to select RapidArc,"
he added.
Sudharz Krankenhaus treats up to 900 patients a year using two Varian
Clinac(R) medical linear accelerators. The hospital pioneered advanced IMRT
treatments in Germany, carrying out the country's first such treatment in June
2001 and treating a further 2,733 patients with the highly conformal technique
in the eight years since.
The hospital's work has been praised by the president of the German Cancer
Aid Society, Prof. Dr. Dagmar Schipanski. "For about seven years we have
closely followed the IMRT activities at the Sudharz Krankenhaus Nordhausen,"
she said. "Clinicians at this center have treated more than 2,500 patients
with IMRT and built a huge clinical knowledge base and experience on advanced
treatment techniques. As a citizen of the state of Thuringen I'm particularly
proud that a clinic in our state has now become the first in Germany to
introduce such an elegant and efficient technique as RapidArc."
With RapidArc, Varian's Clinac accelerator can target radiation beams at a
tumor while continuously rotating around the patient. Conventional IMRT
treatments are slower and more difficult for radiotherapy radiographers
because they target tumors using a complex sequence of fixed beams from
multiple angles.
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, 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 4,800 people who are located at
manufacturing sites in North America and Europe and in its 60 sales and
support offices around the world. For more information, visit
http://www.varian.com/.
SOURCE Varian Medical Systems, Inc.

Neil Madle of Varian Medical Systems, +44 7786 526068