Varian Medical Systems Selected to Supply Major Project to Bring Advanced Radiotherapy Treatments to North o...( PORTO Portugal Oct. 30 /- Cancer pati...),Health

PORTO, Portugal, Oct. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cancer patients in northern Portugal will gain access to advanced cancer treatments with the acquisition of seven new treatments machines from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) by the Instituto Portugues Oncologia, IPO Porto. The order, placed in August, includes the country's first Novalis Tx(TM) device for advanced radiosurgery and two Trilogy® medical linear accelerators offering RapidArc® radiotherapy capability.

The project involves complete reconstruction of an institute that first began treating cancer patients in 1974 and has offered top quality cancer care for north Portugal's 3.6m inhabitants since. Four Clinac® DHX linear accelerators, ARIA(TM) oncology information software with 64 workstations and 15 treatment planning systems also form part of the largest single radiotherapy order ever placed in Portugal. Varian has also signed an eight-year service contract with the institute.

"The efficacy of radiotherapy treatments is already very well known but the improvement in quality that will come from this project will be of enormous benefit to the quality of life of patients in the north of Portugal," said Helena Pereira, M.D., IPO's radio oncology service medical director. "This new equipment will allow us to introduce new radiation delivery techniques that offer more efficient and more precise ways of treating cancer while reducing side effects."

Laranja Pontes, M.D., the Institute's CEO, added, "We have been working with Varian for twenty years and we are very pleased with the relationship. The acquisition of this new equipment shows our faith in this relationship and our belief that Varian's equipment and software offer our patients the best treatments."

RapidArc delivers a precise and efficient treatment in single or multip
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