BUDAPEST, Hungary, April 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) is opening a local office in Hungary with the aim of helping the country's radiotherapy departments to offer advanced treatments for a growing cancer population. The headquarters, situated in Budapest and initially employing seven people, will serve Hungary's radiotherapy departments and act as a sales and support services support hub for customers across south-east Europe.
The majority of Hungary's 26 radiotherapy treatment machines are over ten years old and plans are in place to upgrade equipment at the country's 12 radiotherapy departments mainly using European Union grants. Very few clinical procedures using advanced radiotherapy techniques such as intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) or kV-based image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) currently take place in daily routine in Hungary.
"We are committed to helping the country's radiation oncologists implement advanced RapidArc® image-guided IMRT treatments at these radiotherapy centers within this upgrade program for the benefit of both patients and clinicians across the nation," says Szabolcs Forizs, general manager of Varian Medical Systems Hungary. "A local office enables Varian to fulfil this commitment more effectively."
Under the upgrade program, Hungary's radiotherapy centers will receive either new equipment or upgrades to existing machines. "Every department should end up with two modern machines with new treatment capability such as RapidArc to enable fast, safe and precise image-guided IMRT treatments," says Bence Kampos, area sales manager of Varian Medical Systems Hungary.
Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) is a way of delivering treatments effectively while protecting more surrounding healthy tissue and Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) uses X-ray imaging to target tumors more precisely. Clinical studies suggest that both techniques have the potential to improve outcomes in many types of cancer. RapidArc significantly shortens treatment time, thereby enabling clinics to help more cancer patients.
Prior to the opening of the Budapest office, Varian has served customers in the country through a local representative, Budapest-based Fototronic. By acquiring the Varian business-line within Fototronic, Varian has maintained the local expertise of Fototronic employees within Varian Medical Systems Hungary.
"This is an exciting time for the development of radiotherapy in Hungary and Varian is committed to this region," says Roger Leibundgut, Varian's regional director of sales and business development.
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 and digital detectors 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 5,900 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