Prostate Cancer Patient in Montpellier Becomes First Cancer Patient in France Treated with Varian's RapidArc(TM) Ra...(ffectively. With this technology we hav...)

The hospital, one of the seven members of Varian's RapidArc Council of pioneering centers that helped develop the clinical use of the new treatment technology, carried out the treatment on one of the four Varian linear accelerators in the department using French-language treatment planning and oncology information management software. More than 700 patients have been treated with IMRT at the comprehensive cancer center since its introduction in 2001 and there are plans to replace all conventional IMRT treatments for tumors in the pelvic region with RapidArc treatments.

According to radiation oncologist Dr. Carmen Llacer Moscardo, "Pelvic cases can take between 12 and 14 minutes to treat with IMRT but we can now do them in under two minutes with one arc or, if clinically relevant, about three minutes with two arcs around the patient with RapidArc. If we do this, there is less possibility for the patient to move and we reduce the chance of internal motion playing a part, as there tends to be a lot of motion in the pelvic region. Also, fast treatments reduce the possibility of inaccuracy and increase patient comfort."

RapidArc delivers a volumetric intensity-modulated radiation therapy treatment in a single or multiple arcs of the treatment machine around the patient and makes it possible to deliver advanced image-guided IMRT two to eight times faster than is possible with conventional IMRT. Radiotherapy studies correlate the ability to spare more healthy tissue with reduced complications and better outcomes.

Editorial contact: Neil Madle, Varian Medical Systems, +44 7786 526068

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