Global Clinical Council Created for Advancement of Image-Guided Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy

A council of leading cancer centers in North America and Europe has been formed to further the development of clinical protocols using sophisticated radiotherapy technology for fast and precise cancer treatments.

RapidArc, radiotherapy technology developed by Varian Medical Systems (Palo Alto, CA, USA), makes it possible to deliver advanced image-guided, intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) two-to-eight times faster than is possible with conventional IMRT or helical tomotherapy.

Varian formed the council, whose members include researchers and scientists from the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, Netherlands; Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, Denmark; CRLC Val d'Aurelle in Montpellier, France; University Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland; BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver, Canada; University of Maryland, Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center in Baltimore, MD, USA; and University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL, USA.

The council members have been working with early versions of the Varian RapidArc system to potentially expand clinical applications for the new treatment method. As part of this effort, they intend to develop additional clinical presentations on the new technology for submission to scientific meetings, journals, and symposia. Furthermore, the council members will collaborate with Varian engineers and developers in Switzerland, Finland, and the United States on future modifications to the technology.

"RapidArc represents a major medical advance that has the potential to change the way radiation therapy is planned and delivered, and the RapidArc Council has already been instrumental in the successful development and introduction of this new technology,” said Dow Wilson, president of Varian's Oncology Systems business. "We meet regularly with representatives from these centers to compare experiences and their input is invaluable. We expect that their contributions will help to accelerate the broad deployment and use of RapidArc in cancer treatment centers around the world.”

RapidArc provides a complete volumetric IMRT treatment in a single arc of the treatment machine around the patient. Varian equipment was used to treat a prostate cancer patient with volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) at the BC Cancer Agency in October 2007, making it the world's first VMAT treatment of its type. Varian has already started taking orders for the RapidArc capability.

Yves Archambault, RapidArc product manager and coordinator of the RapidArc Council's activities, noted, "The product launch is the culmination of work that began early last year and members of the Varian Global Council have already been tremendously helpful in its development. They recognize that RapidArc should make high-quality radiotherapy a more affordable, more accessible treatment option, and enable more cancer patients to receive a higher standard of care.”

RapidArc also dramatically increases the efficiency of dose utilization and reduces the amount of scattered, nontherapeutic radiation delivered to a patient. According to Luca Cozzi, Ph.D., Varian's European coordinator of the RapidArc Council and head of research at the Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland in Bellinzona, this has the potential to further enhance outcomes, particularly when extra accuracy can make a big difference--with pediatric patients, for example. "This is a group with still-developing anatomy and the possibility of very long-term survival,” Dr. Cozzi pointed out, adding that better protection of a child's still-developing cells and organs could prevent health problems and side effects from developing later in life.

Dr. Ben Slotman of VU Medical Center in Amsterdam supported this, remarking, "The benefits of fast RapidArc treatments are many. Faster treatment delivery has not only an economic benefit because more patients can be treated within the same time, but it has clinical benefits as well. The risk of movement of the patient during treatment is also smaller, and faster treatments are of course much more comfortable for the patients. It is also clear that when a dose distribution is more conformal to the tumor or enables better avoidance of critical structures, a higher dose can be given, increasing the likelihood of desirable outcomes and lowering the risks of side effects. Although it represents a major advance in radiotherapy treatment technology, RapidArc is easy to implement. It requires no major process changes from the physician, physicist, dosimetrist or therapist, as the steps for planning and delivering treatments are virtually unchanged.”


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