| From: Peter Dierks | 12/6/2005 3:01:20 PM | | | | | | Varian Medical Systems Receives FDA 510(k) Clearance for Eye Cancer Proton Therapy Treatment Planning Tool
PALO ALTO, Calif., Dec. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Varian Medical Systems, Inc. (NYSE: VAR) has received FDA 510(k) clearance for a new proton therapy eye dose calculation module that has been made part of the company's Eclipse(TM) treatment planning system for planning radiation therapies for the treatment of cancer. The new proton eye dose calculation module, the first of its kind to be cleared by the FDA for use in the United States, enables doctors to create the highly complex treatment plans necessary for precisely delivering proton radiation beams for treatment of ocular cancers while maximizing protection for the many small, essential critical structures in and around the human eye.
Varian's Eclipse(TM) radiotherapy treatment planning system is the market leading clinical tool for planning advanced forms of radiation therapy, including photon (X-ray), electron, proton, and brachytherapy treatments. This comprehensive integrated approach enables clinicians to plan treatments using combinations of these modalities for the best possible care. Planners efficiently use the same tools for all of their work.
Proton radiotherapy is a highly precise form of cancer treatment that is only available in a few treatment centers worldwide. With the addition of the proton eye dose calculation, these treatment centers will now be able to treat cancers of the eye using this form of radiation therapy.
Varian Medical Systems, Inc., of Palo Alto, California is the world's leading manufacturer of integrated cancer therapy systems, which are treating thousands of patients per day. 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 www.varian.com.
Forward Looking Statements
Statements in this press release regarding future business, events, plans, objectives, expectations, estimates, and other similar matters 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. News Provided by Acquire Media Corporation |
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| From: JCKnight | 12/13/2005 3:26:32 PM | | | | | | SAMARA, Russia, Dec. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Samara Oncology Center in Russia is moving to initiate advanced cancer treatment programs, including image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT), using new equipment ordered from Varian Medical Systems VAR. The cancer center has ordered Russia's first Varian On-Board Imager(TM) for treating its patients with IGRT, which improves precision by tracking and adjusting for tumor motion.
To help support these and other new cancer treatment programs, Varian Medical Systems -- the world leader in radiotherapy technology -- has opened its first sales and service office in Russia |
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| To: shoe who wrote (160) | 2/16/2006 10:33:56 AM | | From: Peter Dierks | | | | I changed my mind about VAR. It is currently part of my long term strategic portfolio. I bought back the shares I had sold after a dip. It is hovering near 60. If it popped to 65 soon, I made trade some shares out and hope to buy back on another dip.
The aging baby boomers will demand more Cancer treatment. The 3 D radiation treatment is getting more use. |
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| From: Peter Dierks | 3/6/2006 5:22:38 PM | | | | | | New Varian High-Precision X-ray Imaging Device Significantly Reduces Time Needed for Complex Neurosurgical Treatment at Top UK Cancer Center
CLATTERBRIDGE, England, March 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Clinicians at the UK's Clatterbridge Center for Oncology have carried out their first routine stereotactic neurosurgical treatment using a Varian linear accelerator equipped with a new device for enhancing precision using 3D X-ray images.
A 40-year-old female patient with a solitary brain metastasis received a single session of radiosurgery on a Varian Clinac(R) linear accelerator equipped with an On-Board Imager(TM) to track the exact location of the lesion. The On-Board Imager device enabled clinicians at Clatterbridge to pinpoint the location of the tumor using special conebeam CT images and then complete the treatment in less than an hour. Until now, this type of special treatment took up to four hours.
"The time-consuming nature of this sort of treatment has meant that we would normally have had to carry it out in the evening on specialized machines, after our routine work has been completed," says Angela Heaton, research radiographer at Clatterbridge. "It could take up to two hours to check calibrations before we could even begin treating and the whole process could take several hours, which was inconvenient for both the patient and staff and made it a relatively difficult treatment."
She said stereotactic treatments could be further delayed when there was the need for neurosurgeons to attend and screw a head fixation device into the patient's skull in order to keep them in place for up to four hours. Doctors said the new imaging treatment process makes it possible to avoid this uncomfortable and time-consuming step for their patients.
Dr Brian Haylock, the center's clinical director, said the conebeam CT capability would be extremely useful in validating the accuracy of different methods of head fixation used, which is vital in brain treatments. "I was very impressed with the accuracy and ease of use of the On- Board Imager's CBCT imaging capability. It seemed very efficient," he said, following the treatment.
The patient selected for this pioneering treatment had previous whole brain surgery for two brain metastases from an inoperable renal tumor in August last year and although the primary tumor has not progressed, her long- term prognosis is still poor. A new 25mm lesion had recently developed in the right fronto-parietal region of the brain and was causing the onset of facial palsy and headaches from oedema, which meant treating the lesion could greatly improve her quality of life.
Using the Clinac accelerator's 120-leaf multileaf collimator to shape a 1.5mm beam, clinicians delivered a 15Gy stereotactic radiosurgery treatment from eight angles, carefully checking the patient's head position between each treatment field. The entire treatment took less than an hour -- about 20 minutes for patient positioning on the couch using a head-frame, two minutes for conebeam CT image acquisition, a further five minutes for online image matching and about 20 minutes for treatment delivery.
"At present we could expect to do between ten and twelve such treatments a year," adds Dr Haylock. "These patients have previously been treated out of hours because of time constraints so this did not become routine. It's now important that we do everything we can to improve the efficiency as well as maintain treatment accuracy and improve patient comfort. That's why we want to move all our stereotactic procedures across to the Varian machine, which also has the versatility to handle routine radiotherapy treatments when it is not being used for neurosurgical cases."
Walter Frei, head of Varian's Oncology Systems business in Europe, said, "In busy public healthcare systems in Europe, where quality of care coupled with speed and efficiency are critical, this type of new approach is proving a huge leap forward for the treatment of neurosurgery patients."
About Varian Medical Systems
Varian Medical Systems, Inc., (NYSE: VAR) of Palo Alto, California is the world's leading supplier of equipment and software for treating cancer. The company is also a premier supplier of components including X-ray tubes and flat-panel detectors for medical, scientific, and industrial imaging. Varian Medical Systems employs approximately 3,280 people who are located at manufacturing sites in North America and Europe and in its 55 sales and support offices around the world. The company operates manufacturing and engineering centers in Baden (Switzerland), Crawley (England), Haan (Germany), Helsinki (Finland) and Toulouse (France) and has headquarters for Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEA) based in Zug, Switzerland. Additional information is available on the company's web site at 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 "can" and "expect," 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.
Contact: Neil Madle of Varian Medical Systems, +44-7786-526068.
SOURCE Varian Medical Systems, Inc.
News Provided by Acquire Media Corporation |
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| From: Peter Dierks | 4/3/2006 8:51:59 PM | | | | | | Varian Medical Systems Schedules Second Quarter FY2006 News Release and Conference Call
PALO ALTO, Calif., April 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) announced today that it will report financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2006 following the close of regular trading on Tuesday, April 25, 2006. The news release will be followed by a teleconference available to all interested parties at 2:00 p.m. PT.
The Varian Medical Systems quarterly results can be accessed on April 25, 2006 via:
News Release: Contact Anne Rambo via phone at 650-424-5834 or via e-mail at anne.rambo@varian.com to have a copy of the news release faxed, or visit the Varian website at varian.com .
Internet Simulcast: www.varian.com/investor
Teleconference: . Telephone from within the U.S.:
- Dial 1-866-383-8003 and enter access code 40198688 prior to the call at 2:00 p.m. PT/5:00 p.m. ET. Telephone from outside the U.S.:
- Dial 1-617-597-5330 and enter access code 401-98688 prior to the call at 2:00 p.m. PT/5:00 p.m. ET.
*Note: If the number of lines allocated to the call is exhausted, the webcast or replay should be utilized.
Replay: The teleconference will be rebroadcast until 8:00pm, ET, Friday, April 28, 2006 and can be accessed by phone or Web link as follows:
- Telephone from within the U.S.: Dial 1-888-286-8010 and enter access code 35257172.
- Telephone from outside the U.S.: Dial 1-617-801-6888 and enter access code 3527172.
- Internet: click on the "Quarterly Conference Call" icon on the company's investor relations website at www.varian.com/investor.
Additional information about Varian Medical Systems can be obtained on the company's website. Investors can subscribe to receive automatic "e-mail alerts" regarding Varian news and events via the company website at www.varian.com/investor.
Varian Medical Systems, Inc. of Palo Alto, California is the world's leading supplier of equipment and software for treating cancer. The company is also a premier supplier of components including X-ray tubes and flat-panel detectors for medical, scientific, and industrial imaging. Varian Medical Systems employs approximately 3,500 people who are located at manufacturing sites in North America and Europe and in its 55 sales and support offices around the world. For more information, visit www.varian.com.
FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:
Spencer Sias, 650-424-5782
Vice President, Corporate Communications and Investor Relations
spencer.sias@varian.com
SOURCE Varian Medical Systems, Inc.
News Provided by Acquire Media Corporation |
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| From: JakeStraw | 7/17/2006 10:27:33 AM | | | | | | Scottish Hospital to Offer Cancer Patients Advanced Radiotherapy Treatments With New Equipment and Software from Varian Medical Systems
biz.yahoo.com
Monday July 17, 5:00 am ET
GLASGOW, Scotland, July 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cancer patients in Scotland will have access to the full range of state-of-the-art radiotherapy treatments with the acquisition of advanced new equipment and software by the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre in Glasgow as part of a purchasing wave by the Scottish Executive. Varian has been chosen to supply all the medical linear accelerators awarded to date within this centralised procurement managed by Scottish Healthcare Supplies.
When three new Varian Clinac® iX accelerators are installed at the amalgamated West of Scotland Cancer Centre early in 2007, it will become the largest radiotherapy unit in the United Kingdom, with eleven accelerators in total. Varian is also supplying the hospital with two On-Board Imager® devices for modern image guided radiotherapy (IGRT) treatments, three RPM(TM) respiratory gating systems, an Acuity® iX 3D imaging system for brachytherapy planning and verification and three GammaMed(TM) afterloaders for high dose rate (HDR) and pulsed dose rate (PDR) brachytherapy treatments.
The hospital is also installing Varian's advanced radiotherapy software with an upgraded VARiSVision information management network and ten new Eclipse(TM) treatment planning workstations.
Professor Alan Rodger, the Beatson's medical director, says, "This will give us the equipment base to offer our patients the full range of external beam and brachytherapy radiotherapy treatments. Our equipment choice was based on a very rigorous selection process that involved multi-disciplinary teams from across the hospital.
"We wanted the very best equipment to meet our needs, some level of future-proofing so that we do not buy machines that are antiques within two to three years, and value for money as well. This equipment is at the cutting edge of what radiotherapy has to offer and we are looking forward to working closely with Varian to expand the possibilities still further."
As part of the hospital's research and development efforts, the Beatson Research Fund has funded a physicist, a radiographer and a clinician to advance research into IGRT and respiratory gating using one of the new machines. Image Guided Radiotherapy enables more precise tumor targeting through better imaging and automatic patient repositioning on a daily basis and respiratory gating enables clinicians to time the treatment beam delivery in sync with the patient's normal breathing pattern. The centre will also be expanding its existing program of intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), a more precise form of radiotherapy that enables clinicians to increase doses while reducing exposure to healthy surrounding tissue.
Through its new equipment acquisitions, the Beatson will be at the leading edge of Image-Guided Brachytherapy (IGBT), a relatively fast treatment in which doctors use advanced imaging capability to more precisely place radiation sources within tumors. The hospital is expanding its brachytherapy program with a new multi-room suite that will be equipped with Varian's Acuity(TM) imaging system as well as several new afterloaders for high dose rate and pulsed dose rate procedures. In addition to supporting brachytherapy, the new Acuity imaging system, which provides radiographic, fluoroscopic and 3D conebeam CT images, will be used for planning, simulating and verifying external beam treatments including IMRT and IGRT.
Walter Frei, head of Varian's Oncology Systems business in Europe, said, "The West of Scotland Cancer Centre will be among the largest and most prestigious of its type in Europe and our equipment will help the hospital to expand the range of radiotherapy options it can offer Scottish cancer patients. We look forward to continuing to support doctors and patients in Scotland."
The Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre, which has 60 percent of the Scottish population in its catchment area, will be housed in a single state-of-the-art unit at Gartnavel General Hospital by early next year. Phase 1 of the new centre, the Tom Wheldon building, is already in use and houses five linear accelerators. The second phase, currently under construction, brings together all oncology services currently spread across a number of sites in the North Glasgow area. |
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| From: JakeStraw | 7/25/2006 10:18:57 AM | | | | | | Top Malaysian Cancer Center Begins Treatments Using World's Most Versatile and Advanced Radiotherapy Machine
biz.yahoo.com
Thursday July 20, 5:00 am ET
NILAI, Malaysia, July 20 /PRNewswire/ -- A leading cancer center in Malaysia has begun offering patients state-of-the-art radiotherapy treatments using a new Trilogy® linear accelerator from Varian Medical Systems. The NCI Cancer Hospital in Nilai, south of Kuala Lumpur, has launched treatment programs offering the latest in high-precision radiotherapy techniques, including intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) and stereotactic radiosurgery.
More than 40 patients have been treated on the versatile, all-in-one Trilogy machine since treatments started in the middle of April. Prior to acquiring the Trilogy system, the hospital only had a low-energy linear accelerator that limited the treatments they could offer.
"The new system is marvelous because it enables us to offer our patients treatments that could not have been done here before," said Dr. Govindaraju Selvaratnam, the hospital's medical director. "The additional accuracy of IMRT using the Trilogy has given us the confidence to boost doses to the tumor because we know we're reducing doses to adjacent critical structures. We can reach dose levels with the Trilogy that we simply couldn't before and our patients are benefiting as a result."
Dr. Selvaratnam added that as well as launching standard IMRT programs for prostrate, breast and head/neck cancer patients, the Trilogy accelerator enabled his team to handle more difficult and challenging cases, such as large-field treatments to target tumor recurrence in the chest wall and treating tumors in the esophagus and large sarcomas. "With Trilogy we can address huge treatment fields of a size that we never believed we would be able to achieve here at NCI," he added.
He said his radiographers routinely used the Trilogy's On-Board Imager® device to check and, if necessary, adjust the position of the patient at every treatment session. In August, the hospital will begin a stereotactic program involving powerful treatments in one-to-five sessions to control metastatic outbreaks. Shortly afterwards they plan to begin 3D imaging using the On-Board Imager's conebeam CT imaging mode as well as treatments using respiratory gating, whereby the treatment beam is automatically switched on and off in tandem with a patient's normal breathing cycle.
Dr. Selvaratnam and his team are currently treating approximately 22 patients a day on the Trilogy linear accelerator. The private NCI Cancer Hospital handles up to 800 new cancer patients each year, half of them from the nation's capital Kuala Lumpur.
Varian Medical Systems' Trilogy medical linear accelerator is the most versatile machine of its type in the world, with the capability of offering all standard radiation therapies as well advanced treatments that make it possible to concentrate greater doses on tumors while protecting surrounding healthy tissue. It is expected to help doctors to improve cure rates for patients while reducing treatment complications.
"Trilogy is the first practical, clinically-viable linear accelerator that is capable of delivering all forms of external-beam radiation therapy," said Dow Wilson, head of Varian's Oncology Systems business. "It enables doctors to choose and use the most appropriate treatment modality for treating cancer in the body or the head and neck, and to deliver the full spectrum of treatments, all on one machine in a single room." |
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| From: JakeStraw | 7/25/2006 10:20:25 AM | | | | | | Varian Medical Systems to Exhibit the Company's Industry-Leading System for Planning Radiotherapy Treatments
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Monday July 24, 8:00 am ET
Eclipse(TM) software system speeds up treatment planning and expedites clinical adoption of the most modern cancer treatment techniques
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(TM) 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) . |
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