May 21, 2008 - Aarhus University Hospital of Aarhus, Denmark, placed an order for three new treatment machines and nine advanced RapidArc volumetric arc therapy systems, planning to have RapidArc installed on all nine of its Clinac linear accelerators later this year, in hopes of consolidating all radiotherapy hardware and software in an integrated system.
Two of the additional treatment machines will be installed at a new radiotherapy center being constructed alongside the general hospital in the town of Herning, which is sixty miles from Aarhus but will effectively be a part of the Aarhus campus.
RapidArc radiotherapy technology is designed to deliver image-guided, intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) reportedly two to eight times faster and more precisely than conventional IMRT or helical tomotherapy.
RapidArc's volumetric modulated arc therapy delivers a complete IMRT treatment in a single rotation of the treatment machine around the patient. The two FDA clearances for RapidArc cover the treatment hardware and the RapidArc treatment planning software module in Varian's Eclipse treatment planning system. Varian will begin taking orders for RapidArc immediately and will begin delivering it to customers in the spring of 2008.
Clinicians can use RapidArc for prostate and head and neck treatments and still offer fixed beam IMRT treatments with motion management for lung and breast tumors and electron treatments for patients with lymphomas and skin cancers.
For more information: www.varian.com