London's Barts Hospital Selects Varian Equipment to Offer Advanced Radiotherapy to More Cancer Patients | Varian

{ "pageType": "news-article", "title": "London's Barts Hospital Selects Varian Equipment to Offer Advanced Radiotherapy to More Cancer Patients", "articleDate": "August 05, 2009", "introText": "", "category": "Oncology" }

London's Barts Hospital Selects Varian Equipment to Offer Advanced Radiotherapy to More Cancer Patients

LONDON, Aug. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Developers behind an ambitious project to redevelop one of London's leading cancer centers have ordered four new radiotherapy treatment machines from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR). Barts and The London NHS Trust is acquiring the new Clinac® linear accelerators as part of a high-profile 1 billion pounds Sterling PFI (private finance initiative) scheme and treatments are due to commence at Barts and the London Cancer Centre at Barts Hospital next spring.

The new machines, ordered in June and all equipped with On-Board Imager® devices and RapidArc® capability, will enable Barts to expand its intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) program and offer advanced treatments to more patients. The new machines will replace three older devices and will be joined by a two-year-old accelerator that is being transferred from the current site and upgraded with RapidArc, giving the hospital five modern Varian linear accelerators when installed.

In the largest PFI project of its kind in the UK to date, world renowned hospitals Barts in the City and the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel are both being redeveloped. Barts was founded in 1123 and is the oldest hospital in Britain. Together, the hospitals provide comprehensive care for more than 700,000 patients each year.

"These modern and advanced treatment machines will enable us to offer highly conformal IMRT treatments to more cancer patients," says Niall MacDougall, physicist at Barts, "We are also eager to introduce RapidArc treatments as soon as possible."

Dr. Amen Sibtain, consultant clinical oncologist, adds, "RapidArc will offer substantial benefits to our patients and is an exciting step forward for our department. We are already reaping the rewards of IMRT and RapidArc will build on this by combining image guidance and faster treatment times with excellent dose conformity."

RapidArc delivers a precise and efficient radiotherapy treatment in single or multiple rotations of the treatment machine around the patient and makes it possible to deliver image-guided IMRT two to eight times faster than is possible with conventional IMRT. Faster treatments 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.

Dr. MacDougall says Barts is noted for its head & neck IMRT program, working closely with its London peers The Royal Marsden in Fulham Road and University College London Hospital to share experiences. All three pioneering hospitals use Varian technology to deliver fast and precise radiotherapy treatments. Barts is also ordering a full suite of ARIA™ oncology information management software and Eclipse™ treatment planning software from Varian.

"This is a prestigious and long-awaited project that will add enormously to London's radiotherapy provision and we are honoured that Varian's equipment and software has been selected to be a part of it," says David Scott, Varian's UK sales manager. "Varian is the world leader in radiotherapy and has pioneered equipment that enables radiation oncologists to deliver fast, precise and effective curative treatments."

The new equipment is part of a long-term, multi-million pound managed equipment service contract with Varian both for this initial equipment supply, comprehensive maintenance and ongoing replacement of the radiotherapy equipment at the new Barts and The Royal London hospitals.

    Editorial contacts: Neil Madle, Varian Medical Systems, +44 7786 526068
    and Dan Wheelahan, Barts and the London NHS Trust, +44 207 480 4892

About Varian Medical Systems

Varian Medical Systems, Inc., of Palo Alto, California, is the world's leading manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating cancer and other medical conditions with radiotherapy, radiosurgery, proton therapy, and brachytherapy. The company supplies informatics software for managing comprehensive cancer clinics, radiotherapy centers and medical oncology practices. Varian is a premier supplier of tubes and digital detectors for X-ray imaging in medical, scientific, and industrial applications and also supplies X-ray imaging products for cargo screening and industrial inspection. Varian Medical Systems employs approximately 5,100 people who are located at manufacturing sites in North America, China, and Europe and in its 79 sales and support offices around the world. For more information, visit http://www.varian.com/

More information about Barts and The London NHS Trust can be obtained at: www.bartsandthelondon.nhs.uk

SOURCE Varian Medical Systems

SOURCE: Varian Medical Systems

Web site: http://www.varian.com//
http://www.bartsandthelondon.nhs.uk/