Varian Medical Systems to Exhibit the Company's Industry-Leading System for Planning Radiotherapy Treatments | Varian

{ "pageType": "news-article", "title": "Varian Medical Systems to Exhibit the Company's Industry-Leading System for Planning Radiotherapy Treatments", "articleDate": "2006/07/24", "introText": "", "category": "Oncology" }

Varian Medical Systems to Exhibit the Company's Industry-Leading System for Planning Radiotherapy Treatments

PALO ALTO, Calif., July 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR), the world leader in cancer therapy technology, will exhibit the company's industry-leading Eclipse™ radiotherapy treatment planning system at the 48th annual meeting of The American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) taking place in Orlando, Florida from July 30 to August 3. Varian will also sponsor two special events in connection with the meeting.

Eclipse is the market's most comprehensive and versatile treatment planning program, capable of producing plans for conventional radiotherapy, intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT), brachytherapy, and proton radiotherapy. The system incorporates numerous time-saving features like disease-specific planning protocols and easy-to-use optimization tools that make it easier and faster to plan sophisticated cancer treatments.

"With Eclipse, we've given clinics the capabilities they need to offer advanced treatments including IGRT, in addition to supporting the full range of more conventional treatments," says Dow Wilson, president of Varian's Oncology Systems business.

Ron Lalonde, PhD, chief scientific officer for D3 Advanced Radiation Planning Services in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, uses multiple treatment planning systems to produce IMRT plans for clinical customers around the country. He says: "Dose calculation with Eclipse is twice as fast" as other programs he uses. "Because 99 percent of our plans are for IMRT, we do things that are fairly dose calculation intensive. There is no question that the fluence optimization process with Eclipse has improved our IMRT planning. Because it's interactive, you can tweak the plans on the fly and generate better plans more rapidly."

Features that Expedite Planning

Eclipse incorporates a set of tools that streamline the process of creating a personalized plan for each patient, including: a customizable library of clinical protocols and treatment plan templates, remote planning capabilities, a tool for specifying normal tissue dose constraints, an interactive dose visualization display, and an automated segmentation tool that automates the contouring step in which doctors separate diseased tissues from surrounding healthy organs on 3-D diagnostic images.

"Eclipse's contouring tools help smooth the process," says Jerry Soen, director of medical physics at the Northern Illinois Medical Center.

Varian-Sponsored Events at AAPM

In addition to its exhibit on the trade show floor, Varian Medical Systems will sponsor the following two special events:

-- Saturday, July 29, 7:00 am - 5:00 pm: Users meeting for the Eclipse
     treatment planning system and the On-Board Imager® device for
     image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT), an all-day event where technology
     users can share successes, discover best practices, learn from expert
     colleagues and increase their expertise
     (http://www.varian.com/AAPMusersmeeting).

  -- Sunday, July 30, 6:30 - 9:30 pm: Symposium entitled: "Multi-Dimensional
     Dose Conformality," on how imaging is transforming the practice of
     radiation therapy (http://www.varian.com/symposium) .

  ABOUT VARIAN MEDICAL SYSTEMS, INC.

Varian Medical Systems, Inc., of Palo Alto, California is the world's leading manufacturer of medical technology for treating cancer with radiotherapy and neurological conditions with radiosurgery. The company is also a premier supplier of X-ray tubes and flat-panel digital subsystems for imaging in medical, scientific, and industrial applications. Varian Medical Systems employs approximately 3,600 people who are located at manufacturing sites in North America and Europe and in its 56 sales and support offices around the world. Additional information is available on the company's web site at http://www.varian.com/.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

Statements in this press release regarding future business, events, plans, objectives, expectations, estimates, and other similar matters, including, but not limited to, statements using the terms "will," "can," and "must be" constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements contained in this press release are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, including, but not limited to, the risks described in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and other reports filed from time to time by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements represent the Company's judgment as of the date of this press release. The Company assumes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements because of new information, future events, or otherwise.

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:

  Spencer Sias, (650) 424-5782
  spencer.sias@varian.com

  Meryl Ginsberg, (650) 424-6444
  meryl.ginsberg@varian.com

SOURCE: Varian Medical Systems, Inc.

CONTACT: Spencer Sias, +1-650-424-5782, spencer.sias@varian.com, or
Meryl Ginsberg, +1-650-424-6444, meryl.ginsberg@varian.com, both of Varian
Medical Systems

Web site: http://www.varian.com/
http://www.varian.com/AAPMusersmeeting
http://www.varian.com/symposium