Varian Medical Systems introduces RapidArc radiotherapy technology in Finland

Cancer patients in Finland have gained access to more advanced treatments with the introduction of RapidArc® radiotherapy technology from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) at the only private radiotherapy clinic in the Nordic region. Clinicians at Docrates Clinic in Helsinki are using this fast and precise form of radiotherapy to treat patients with multiple brain metastases and cancers of the abdomen and prostate.

RapidArc, which enables clinicians to deliver a highly-precise image-guided intensity-modulated radiotherapy treatment in as little as one or two revolutions of the treatment machine around the patient, has been delivered using two Varian Clinac iX medical linear accelerators since the summer at Docrates Clinic.

"We have treated thirty prostate patients with RapidArc to date and it has achieved excellent dose coverage with low dose to nearby critical organs and healthy tissue," says Timo Kiljunen, medical physicist. "RapidArc is used routinely where pelvic lymph nodes are treated simultaneously with lower daily dose than the prostate and we also use it for metastatic and primary cancers in the abdominal region, such as liver and pancreatic cancers."

Chief oncologist Mauri Kouri, adds, "RapidArc has been very helpful in treating multiple brain metastases. In one case, four separate brain metastases were treated with two arcs and total irradiated high dose volume was estimated to be a third of that with conventional dynamic arc treatments." Dr. Kouri said RapidArc has enabled his team to introduce a new treatment model for head and multiple brain tumor treatments, sparing the hippocampus areas in prophylactic radiotherapy. "Sparing the hippocampus has been proven to reduce the effects on the patient's memory," said Dr. Kouri.

Faster treatments such as those enabled by using RapidArc technology allow for greater precision, since there is less chance of patient or tumor movement during treatment delivery and, with less time on the treatment couch, also allow for greater patient comfort. Conventional intensity modulated treatments are slower and more difficult for radiotherapy radiographers because they target tumors using a complex sequence of fixed beams from multiple angles.

"We are delighted to be working closely with Docrates Clinic to bring fast and precise RapidArc radiotherapy technology to Finnish cancer patients for the first time," said Sten Hornsleth, Varian's Scandinavian country manager. "The speed and efficiency of RapidArc means more patients can gain access to advanced image-guided IMRT treatments while having to spend less time on the treatment couch."

Docrates Clinic, a comprehensive cancer clinic which opened in October 2007, is the only private radiotherapy center in the Nordic region. It treats around 900 cancer patients per year in an outpatient clinic setting. Over 26,000 Finns were diagnosed with cancer in 2007 and this is expected to increase to over 30,000 by 2015, translating to an increase of nearly 20%.