August 25, 2008 - Clinicians from the Image Guided Radiation Therapy program at Community Care Physicians in Latham, NY have commenced treating cancer patients using RapidArc radiotherapy technology from Varian Medical Systems, an advancement that reportedly delivers a precise image-guided, intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) treatment in two minutes or less.
RapidArc treatments are designed to spare healthy tissue and other vital organs in the body by adapting to the shape and size of a patient’s tumor. These treatments can be reportedly completed more quickly than conventional image guide IMRT because they are delivered with a single continuous rotation of the radiotherapy machine around the patient rather than treating the tumor from fixed positions.
“Earlier technology for radiotherapy limited the number of angles we could use for striking at a tumor,” said Arun Puranik, M.D., director of the Image Guided Radiation Therapy program. “With RapidArc technology, we are seeing excellent treatment plans that permit us to target the tumor from nearly every angle in a 360-degree circle around the patient. The impressive thing is that, when we use RapidArc to target the tumor from more angles, we can deliver a treatment using less radiation. And it only takes two minutes.”
By completing highly-precise IMRT treatment so much faster, Dr. Puranik says, his clinical team members can spend more time with patients or completing administrative tasks.
“Whereas we generally treated four patients each hour, RapidArc is making it possible for us to treat up to five patients an hour, with plenty of time in between appointments,” said Dr. Puranik. “Having extra time for administrative tasks will help us ensure that charges are captured correctly, and cut back on time-consuming billing errors."
For more information: www.varian.com
July 09, 2024 
