Leading Middle East Cancer Hospital Acquires Advanced Radiotherapy Capability from Varian Medic...( Only Radiotherapy Department in State...)

Only Radiotherapy Department in State of Qatar to Introduce State-of-the-Art Treatments including RapidArc(TM) Technology

DOHA, Qatar, March 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- One of the leading cancer centers in the Middle East has acquired two advanced radiotherapy devices from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) equipped with RapidArc(TM) technology for fast and precise treatments. Al Amal Hospital in Doha, Qatar, is replacing four-year-old linear accelerators from another manufacturer with Trilogy(R) and Clinac(R) iX devices, in order to provide patients with more modern and efficient treatments.

The new equipment, ordered in February and scheduled to be installed in May, will enable clinicians in Qatar's only radiation therapy center to begin treatments using RapidArc, Varian's latest technology for delivering image-guided intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) with greater precision and up to eight times faster than is possible with conventional IMRT.

Dr. Noora Mohammed Al-Hammadi, head of the department of radiation oncology, said, "Evidence suggests that RapidArc will revolutionize the way IMRT is delivered and potentially improve patient outcomes. Faster treatment that more closely conform radiation doses to the size, shape and location of the tumor are always desirable in radiotherapy, for both machine throughput as well as patient outcomes. We are very excited about the potential of RapidArc."

RapidArc delivers a precise and efficient treatment in single or multiple arcs of the medical linear accelerator around the patient. Varian's Clinac and Trilogy accelerators can target beams at a tumor while continuously rotating around the patient. Conventional IMRT treatments are slower for radiotherapists because they use many fixed angle beams rather than a continuous rotational beam.