SYDNEY, July 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- An 82-year-old prostate cancer patient has become the first person in Australia to be treated using the fast and precise TrueBeam™ radiotherapy treatment system from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE:VAR). In a treatment carried out at the Crown Princess Mary Cancer Centre Westmead in Sydney, the patient received intensity modulated radiotherapy using the newly-installed system. The patient was also invited to unveil a plaque to mark the arrival of the TrueBeam at an inauguration ceremony attended by local dignitaries.
"This is a giant step forward in the technology we have at our disposal to treat cancer," said director of radiation oncology Professor Phillip Yuile. "The ease of set-up and the rapid delivery take a lot of the pressure off the treatment team, improve patient throughput and importantly enhance treatment precision as patients are less likely to move during treatment."
Professor Yuile said waiting times for radiotherapy treatment in the Sydney area can reach up to 16 weeks. Western Sydney, the region served by Westmead Hospital, has 1.2 million people spread over a large geographic area. "This TrueBeam system, as well as offering state-of-the-art treatments, will help us to manage waiting lists more effectively and hopefully bring it down even further," says Professor Yuile. "We are discovering that treatment is so much faster with TrueBeam, saving time for both staff and patients."
Designed to advance the treatment of lung, breast, prostate, gynaecologic, liver, head and neck, and other types of cancer, Varian's TrueBeam platform for image-guided radiotherapy and radiosurgery is designed to treat tumors, including moving tumors, with speed and precision. Unlike any other treatment device, TrueBeam offers up to six energy levels which enable doctors to customize treatments based on a patient's specific tumor characteristics.
Professor Yuile believes that TrueBeam has many new imaging and treatment features that will help to enhance treatments. "The conebeam CT images we are obtaining for guiding treatments are first class and should improve our ability to accurately deliver dose to tumors," he says. "Treatment set up has been made much faster with newly designed handsets and control station that are extremely easy to use. The prospect of using High Intensity Mode for ultra-fast dose delivery and shorter treatment sessions is very exciting and we are looking forward to working with colleagues internationally in offering this."
Stuart Hamilton, Varian Australasia's sales director, says, "Crown Princess Mary Cancer Centre has made a clear commitment to offer its patients more advanced radiotherapy treatments while being mindful of the need to bring down waiting times. TrueBeam meets these needs and we are honoured to be working closely with this world-class radiotherapy department."
Introduced two years ago, TrueBeam is already in operation at more than 230 leading cancer clinics globally.
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, 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 6,000 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.
SOURCE Varian Medical Systems