May 30, 2014 — Varian Medical Systems announced it has signed an agreement with YongLin Healthcare Foundation by which Varian will provide its ProBeam proton therapy system for deployment at the National Taiwan University in Taipei. The YongLin Healthcare Foundation will donate the system to the university.
Under the purchase agreement, Varian will provide the technology to equip three treatment rooms, two with gantries that rotate around the patient and one as a fixed-beam room.
In addition to the ProBeam system, Varian will provide its Aria information management and Eclipse treatment planning software products. The expected total value of the agreement is estimated to be about $100 million, including long-term operations and maintenance services. Varian expects to book the equipment portion of this order during fiscal year 2014. Equipment installation is expected to take place in mid-2017, with patient treatments expected to begin in the second half of 2018.
Proton therapy makes it possible to treat certain types of cancer more precisely and with potentially fewer side effects than is possible with conventional radiation therapy. With proton therapy, the risk of damage to healthy tissues is reduced. The method can be applied for many of the most common types of cancer and offers advantages when treating tumors close to radiosensitive tissues. In pediatric patients, the risk of developing a new, radiation-induced cancer later in life can be reduced.
Varian's ProBeam system enables intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) by modulating dose levels on a spot-by-spot basis throughout the treatment area. Scanning beam technology makes it possible to combine irradiations from multiple angles in an optimal manner to improve control of dose distributions.
The technology has been installed at the Scripps Proton Therapy Center in San Diego, Calif. Varian proton therapy technology is also in place at the Rinecker Proton Therapy Center in Munich, Germany, and the Paul Scherer Institute in Switzerland. Varian has contracts to install ProBeam systems at six additional centers: at the University of Maryland in Baltimore; Emory University in Atlanta; Cincinnati Children's Hospital in Ohio; University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas; KFMC-King Fahd Medical City in Saudi Arabia; and the PTC St. Petersburg in Russia.
For more information: www.varian.com
May 06, 2024 
