Varian Updates Proton Therapy System

Varian Medical Systems, based in Palo Alto, Calif., has updated its ProBeam proton therapy system. The system, originally released in May 2010 is designed to incorporate imaging, gating, robotic patient positioning, treatment planning and oncology information software to enhance treatment quality for patients and workflow efficiency for clinicians.

The updates include a new interface, which is intended to streamline the steps for imaging, positioning and treating patients with image-guided, intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT).

IMPT involves shaping a radiation drug dose so that it matches the shape of the targeted tumor in three dimensions. The ProBeam system uses Dynamic Peak scanning, which is meant to optimize the dose applied to every point within the area being treated.  This should, according to Varian, make it especially useful for targeting tumors with complex shapes, or tumors that wrap around critical structures such as the spinal cord.

The new user interface is based on technology originally developed for the TrueBeam system for radiotherapy and radiosurgery. The company claims this interface has a much more user-friendly treatment console that consolidates all controls for imaging, treatment, and motion management in a single, graphical interface.

“We have capitalized on Varian’s long experience designing interfaces for efficient clinical use,” said Moataz Karmalawy, head of Varian’s particle therapy group.  “Clinicians who are already conversant with the TrueBeam system should have an easy time learning to operate a ProBeam system, and moving back and forth between the two.”

Varian Medical Systems manufactures 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 also supplies 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.