| From: JakeStraw | 7/27/2006 8:11:30 AM | | | | | | Varian Medical Systems Reports Robust Growth for Third Quarter of Fiscal Year 2006
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Wednesday July 26, 4:01 pm ET
Varian Medical Systems Reports Third Quarter Net Earnings Per Diluted Share of $0.49 ($0.46 Per Diluted Share Excluding Impact of Stock Option Expensing and a Tax Benefit)
PALO ALTO, Calif., July 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) today is reporting strong growth in net earnings, revenues, net orders and backlog for the third quarter of fiscal year 2006.
"Compared to the same period last fiscal year, third-quarter revenues grew 14 percent to $396 million, net orders rose 19 percent to $443 million, and the quarter-ending backlog increased 22 percent to $1.3 billion," said Tim Guertin, president and CEO of Varian Medical Systems. "Excluding option expensing and a one-time tax benefit from repatriation of foreign earnings, third quarter net earnings per diluted share grew by a very strong 24 percent over the year-ago quarter."
The company generated net earnings of $66 million or $0.49 per diluted share for the quarter. Excluding stock option expenses totaling $0.05 per diluted share, and the one-time tax benefit of $0.08 per diluted share, net earnings for the third quarter were $62 million or $0.46 per diluted share (including a $0.02 tax benefit from the release of tax reserves related to the lapse of the statute of limitations in certain domestic jurisdictions). Net earnings for the third quarter of fiscal year 2005 were $51 million or $0.37 per diluted share.
"New products for image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) for cancer, stereotactic radiosurgery, filmless X-rays, and security and inspection contributed to significant growth in net orders in all of our business segments," Guertin added.
The company generated strong cash flow from operations in the third quarter, ending the period with $371 million in cash and marketable securities. During the period, $75 million was spent to repurchase 1.5 million shares of common stock and $9 million was invested in the dpiX consortium to build a new semiconductor fab for the thin film transistor arrays used in digital image detectors for filmless X-rays.
Oncology Systems
Oncology Systems' third quarter revenues totaled $331 million, up 14 percent from the third quarter of last fiscal year. This business recorded third quarter net orders of $374 million, up 15 percent from the same period last year with 14 percent growth in North America and 17 percent growth in international markets.
"We believe we have expanded our share in radiation oncology and enhanced our leadership in IGRT," Guertin said. "We now have shipped more than 250 of our On-board Imager device for image-guided treatments. Our IGRT technology has been embraced by customers and is clearly moving into mainstream adoption. Doctors around the world are using our IGRT products to treat primary and metastatic cancers in virtually every part of the body, including the lung, prostate, breast, brain, liver, head and neck, and pancreas," Guertin said.
"Higher ramp-up costs to support rapid growth for the On-Board Imager device, a larger mix of international shipments, and an in increase in revenue deferrals pending completion of installations, contributed to a decline in gross margin for this business and the company during the quarter," said Guertin. "This was largely offset on our bottom line by slower growth in selling expenses and a lower corporate tax rate due to higher earnings in international jurisdictions."
X-Ray Products
Revenues for the X-Ray Products business, including X-ray tubes and flat panel digital image detectors for filmless X-rays, were $56 million for the third quarter, up 15 percent from the year-ago quarter. The X-Ray Products business recorded third quarter net orders of $61 million, up 37 percent from the same period last year, driven by dramatic growth in the flat panel product line.
"Revenues from shipments of our digital image detectors more than doubled versus the year-ago period, driven by accelerated demand for filmless imaging medical diagnostics, dental CT scanning, and veterinary care," Guertin said. "This business has continued to ramp up at a tremendous rate and new construction to expand manufacturing capacity for this product line is on schedule."
Other Businesses
The company's Security and Inspection Products business and the Ginzton Technology Center reported combined third quarter revenues of $9 million, up slightly from the total for the same period last fiscal year. "Net orders for the security and inspection business almost doubled in this third quarter versus the year-ago period," Guertin said.
Outlook
"For fiscal year 2006, we continue to believe that total company revenues should increase by about 14 percent above the fiscal 2005 total," Guertin said. "We are raising our expectations for growth in net earnings per diluted share for fiscal year 2006 to 18 to 19 percent over the fiscal year 2005 total, excluding the impact of expensing stock options and the one-time repatriation tax benefit.
"Very preliminary estimates for fiscal year 2007 indicate that total company revenue should increase in the low-double digits over the total for fiscal year 2006," Guertin added. "Net earnings per diluted share for fiscal year 2007 should grow at a mid-teens rate over the totals for fiscal year 2006 excluding the impact of stock option expensing and the one-time repatriation tax benefit."
The company expects that the annual impact of stock option expensing will be in the range of $0.19 to $0.22 per diluted share for both fiscal year 2006 and fiscal 2007 |
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| From: JakeStraw | 7/27/2006 8:21:24 AM | | | | | | Varian Medical Systems Reports Rapid Adoption of the Company's Technology for Image-Guided Radiotherapy (IGRT)
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Thursday July 27, 8:00 am ET
Over 250 On-Board Imager(TM) Devices Shipped to Cancer Clinics Around the World; On-Board Imager Devices Now Included in More Than 60 Percent of New Machine Orders
PALO ALTO, Calif., July 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) today announced that the company has shipped more than 250 of its On-Board Imager(TM) devices for image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) and that more than 60 percent of orders for new treatment machines include this accessory. Varian's On-Board Imager (OBI) offers three imaging modalities that make it possible to pinpoint the exact location of the targeted tumor every day prior to treatment; note any changes in tumor size, shape, or position; and track tumor motion in order to enhance treatment precision.
"We are seeing tremendous demand for our image-guided radiotherapy machines with the On-Board Imager-both at freestanding clinics as well as at hospitals and large academic centers," said Timothy Guertin, president and CEO. "IGRT is clearly moving into the medical mainstream. Because the On-Board Imager yields two-dimensional images, 3-D cone-beam CT images, and fluoroscopic moving images, it's the most versatile IGRT tool available and doctors have been capitalizing on all of those capabilities to enhance the quality of patient care."
Clinical Examples of IGRT
Since its introduction in early 2004, the On-Board Imager has been used by doctors in a variety of ways:
In Latham, New York, Arun Puranik, MD, is using the OBI device's cone-beam CT imaging mode to position his prostate cancer patients, reporting that it's "the fastest, most accurate technique I have seen for localizing the prostate every day prior to treatment. CT guidance gives us the ability to spare the penile bulb for potency preservation."
Arno J. Mundt, MD, Professor and Chairman of the Radiation Oncology Department at the University of California at San Diego, says, "I was an ultrasound user before this, and I've switched." Today, he is using the radiographic 2-D imaging mode for positioning every gynecological patient and to detect implanted markers on every prostate cancer patient treated in his department.
For some of his older breast cancer patients, Michael Greenberg, MD, medical director of the Dale and Frances Hughes Cancer Center in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, is using markers, the OBI unit's fluoroscopic imaging mode, and Varian's respiratory gating product to complete a course of radiotherapy in just one week. The added accuracy he can achieve makes it possible for him to deliver higher daily doses over a shorter course of treatment.
At Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, Jerome Landry, MD treated a 68-year-old man for gall bladder cancer using the OBI unit, radio-opaque clips, and respiratory gating to locate and accurately target tumor sites and to adjust for tumor motion during treatment.
And at the MIMA Cancer Center in Melbourne, Florida, Todd Scarbrough, MD, treated a 64-year-old lung cancer patient with a small metastatic lesion in his liver with stereotactic radiosurgery. In this case the clinical team combined 3D cone-beam CT and radiographic imaging on the OBI unit to zero in on the tumor site and position the patient for treatment. Respiratory gating was used to account for tumor motion.
"It's clear that radiation oncology is rapidly embracing IGRT as a crucial aid to enhancing the accuracy, effectiveness and reach of radiotherapy," said Guertin. "IGRT is making it possible for more patients to receive advanced treatments such as IMRT and stereotactic radiotherapy and opening the door to treatment of early stage metastatic disease."
There are more than 5,800 radiotherapy centers worldwide, and Varian equips 60 percent of these centers with its integrated and automated radiotherapy systems |
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| From: JakeStraw | 7/27/2006 8:22:33 AM | | | | | | University of Pennsylvania Health System to Equip New Cancer Treatment and Research Center with Technology from Varian Medical Systems
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Thursday July 27, 8:05 am ET
Varian to provide full spectrum of products for delivering advanced, targeted radiotherapies
PALO ALTO, Calif., July 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS), which is building a new world-class cancer treatment and research center, has selected, for its center, advanced cancer radiotherapy treatment technology from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR), including:
-- four Clinac iX(TM) accelerators equipped with On-Board Imager(TM)
devices for image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT), and high-resolution 120-
leaf multileaf collimators, which are beam shaping devices that make it
possible to deliver SmartBeam(TM) IMRT treatments,
-- an Acuity(TM) digital imaging device for treatment simulation and
verification,
-- 20 Eclipse® treatment planning workstations for planning all types of
external beam radiotherapy, including 3-D conformal, intensity-
modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT), and
proton treatments
-- the xArray(TM) optical guidance system for ultra-accurate patient
positioning,
-- accessories for delivering stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS),
-- RPM(TM) respiratory gating for synchronizing imaging and treatment with
a patient's respiratory cycle, in order to deal with tumor motion
during treatment, and
-- the ARIA(TM) oncology information system for managing administrative
and clinical information.
These products will be integrated within a new state-of-the-art cancer treatment facility being built as part of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine (CAM), a $302 million center now under construction.
"UPHS is committed to providing cancer patients with the best care available anywhere in the world," said Michael J. Dandorph, senior vice president for business development at UPHS. "Our clinicians feel Varian's technology for delivering advanced forms of external-beam photon radiotherapy is unmatched for its power, precision, and versatility in treating the complex cancers we often encounter. The Varian products will enable our clinicians to design and deliver very personalized cancer treatments that zero in on malignancies and spare normal healthy tissues to the extent possible with IMRT technology."
"By assembling this complete set of interconnecting radiotherapy tools from Varian, UPHS is putting together a fully automated and integrated treatment and data network that will speed up processes and enable highly accurate treatments to take place quickly and efficiently," said Dow Wilson, president of Varian's Oncology Systems business. "We are delighted to support UPHS in building one of the most advanced, state-of-the-art cancer treatment centers anywhere in the world."
The new UPHS cancer treatment facility is expected to be ready for clinical use some time in 2008. |
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| From: JakeStraw | 7/31/2006 1:34:58 PM | | | | | | University of Florida Physicians Are First to Deliver Stereotactic Radiosurgery Treatments Using Trilogy Tx(TM) From
Varian Medical Systems
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Monday July 31, 8:00 am ET
Eight Patients Receive Ultra-Precise Radiosurgical Treatments for a Range of Neurological Conditions on First Day of Clinical Operation
GAINESVILLE, Fla., July 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Eight patients ranging in age from 21 to 69 were the first people in the world to be treated on a new, ultra-precise machine for non-invasive, image-guided radiosurgery (IGRS) at Shands at the University of Florida. A leading neurosurgery team of UF faculty physicians at Shands used the new Trilogy Tx(TM) medical linear accelerator from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) to treat three men and five women for conditions that included arteriovenous malformations, acoustic schwannomas, meningioma, and metastatic brain tumors.
Image-guided radiosurgery (IGRS) involves delivering precisely focused, high-energy radiation to a localized area in a single treatment session to destroy malignant or non-malignant tumors or to make other medical repairs that cannot be addressed by conventional surgery.
"Trilogy is the first machine that is engineered for delivering these types of treatments," said Frank Bova, PhD, UF College of Medicine professor of neurosurgery, who collaborated with William A. Friedman, MD, UF College of Medicine chairman and professor of neurosurgery, to deliver the treatments. "It is an order of magnitude more accurate than our previous machine. It allows us to target with much more confidence, to reduce our treatment margins, to get closer to critical structures near the target and know that we'll be able to avoid them."
"The Trilogy Tx has eclipsed other technologies for delivering radiosurgery in the treatment of neurological disorders," said Friedman, who has treated thousands of patients with radiosurgery since 1988 and whose team contributed to the development of the new faster and more accurate treatment technology. "The Trilogy is more versatile, and it offers us an incredible dose rate, so these treatments go much faster than they did before," Friedman said.
Better targeting technology and shorter treatment times to improve patient comfort were major objectives for the medical team.
"As expected, the treatment times varied with the complexity of the cases. We were able to complete some of the simpler treatments in just seven minutes," Bova said. "If you include the time spent getting the patient into position and performing final checks, these treatments required only fifteen minutes. Similar treatments would often take 30-45 minutes, using older technology. That's a long time to lie still for treatment."
"We have long been convinced that linear accelerator (linac) technology would be the wave of the future for neurosurgery. Linac-based radiosurgery has come to full maturity with the Trilogy Tx," said Friedman, adding that the first day of neurosurgery treatments on the Trilogy Tx machine went exceptionally well. "We're very pleased," he said. "We find we can control 95 percent of acoustic schwannomas and meningiomas, 80-90 percent of the arteriovenous malformations, and 90 percent of the brain metastases we treat in this way. So we have every reason to expect excellent results for these patients." |
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| To: JakeStraw who wrote (173) | 7/31/2006 2:22:06 PM | | From: shoe | | | | Hi Jake & Peter:
Is Trilogy Tx the next wave then? Trilogy was introduced in 2004 and the stock went up quite a bit that year until investors and analysts started to think Varian had saturated the market. Can hospitals upgrade to Tx or do they have to buy a new machine?
Also, either of you know the difference between Cliniac and Trilogy?
Regards. |
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| To: shoe who wrote (174) | 8/24/2006 2:42:48 PM | | From: Peter Dierks | | | | Doctors at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center Offer New Hope for Patients With Metastatic Cancer
RICHMOND, Va., Aug. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Clinicians at the Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center are among the first in the world to use new image-guided radiosurgery (IGRS) technology from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) to control the spread of metastatic cancer.
Theodore Chung, MD, PhD, a radiation oncologist and researcher for Massey and an associate professor at the VCU School of Medicine, used the new technique to offer new hope to a 47-year- old mother of four whose breast cancer was spreading to her brain and liver. The patient was first treated for breast cancer five years ago and it seemed to be under control until metastatic lesions began to appear. Chung treated several of her metastatic lesions with IGRS, an ultra precise procedure that makes it possible to monitor, track, and target tumors with high doses of radiation in just one to five treatment sessions.
"Our new real-time imaging and targeting capabilities are helping us turn cancer into a controllable disease," said Chung. "These recent advances in radiosurgery are opening up an era in cancer treatment where we can actually begin to control metastatic spread."
Trilogy Treatments
Chung and his team deliver IGRS treatments using Varian's Trilogy(TM) linear accelerator with an On-Board Imager(R) device for pinpointing tumors and targeting them with precisely shaped therapeutic beams. They also use an optical system to continuously monitor and ensure that the patient remains properly positioned during treatment. To further enhance accuracy and address the problem of tumor motion during treatment, the team uses Varian's RPM respiratory gating system to synchronize beam delivery with patients' natural breathing patterns.
For the patient with metastasized breast cancer, Chung and his team were able to use their IGRS system to spare significant amounts of her healthy tissue while treating three separate brain lesions in a single course of treatment. "One lesion was close to the motor strip," Chung said. "Too much dose to this area might have damaged her ability to move. The second lesion was close to the brain stem -- another area that had to be carefully protected during treatment. By using Trilogy's On-Board Imager to take radiographic X-rays, we were able to quickly line up bony anatomical landmarks each day and position the patient properly for her treatments."
The optical positioning system made it possible for Chung to avoid using a conventional head frame that must be screwed into to a patient's skull to keep it immobilized during treatment.
To deal with a metastatic tumor that appeared in the patient's liver, Chung and his team delivered a "gated" radiosurgery treatment on the Trilogy machine that compensated for respiratory motion during the sophisticated treatment. The Massey Cancer Center was one of the earliest adopters of Varian's RPM(TM) respiratory gating technology for targeting tumors that move during treatment due to the patient's breathing.
"She's doing fine right now," Chung reported. "Her quality of life has been reasonable, under the circumstances. Recovery from this type of radiosurgery is virtually immediate because there are no incisions or invasive procedures and because the technology allows us to treat tumors to high doses while sparing normal organs."
"We're very proud of our Trilogy radiosurgery program," said Jeffrey Williamson, PhD, chairman of the Medical Physics Division at the Massey Cancer Center Radiation Oncology Department. "We treat some 30 patients per day, mostly for lesions in the brain, lung, or liver. I see that widening in the near future, as system enhancements help us use images to adapt the treatment plan every day over a longer course of treatment. That's what's coming next."
ABOUT MASSEY
The VCU Massey Cancer Center is one of 61 National Cancer Institute- designated institutions that leads and shapes America's cancer research efforts. Working with all kinds of cancers, the Center conducts basic, translational and clinical cancer research, provides state-of-the-art treatments and clinical trials, and promotes cancer prevention and education. Since 1974, Massey has served as an internationally recognized center of excellence. It offers more clinical trials than any other institution in Virginia, serving patients in Richmond and in four satellite locations. Its 1,000 researchers, clinicians and staff members are dedicated to improving the quality of human life by developing and delivering effective means to prevent, control and ultimately to cure cancer. Visit Massey online at www.massey.vcu.edu or call 1-877-4-MASSEY.
ABOUT VARIAN MEDICAL SYSTEMS
Varian Medical Systems, Inc., (NYSE: VAR) 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 forimaging 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 investor relations 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 "are helping," "are opening up," "widening in the future," and "next" 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: Virginia Commonwealth University Andrea L. Butler (804) 628-2111 albutler@vcu.edu Varian Medical Systems 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: JakeStraw | 9/21/2006 8:10:01 AM | | | | | | Pioneering Image-Guided Radiotherapy Takes Place Using Varian Equipment at Top Cancer Hospital in Belgium
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Thursday September 21, 8:00 am ET
LEUVEN, Belgium, Sept. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cancer patients in Belgium have begun receiving a new more precise form of radiotherapy using X-ray imaging during treatments to locate and focus beams more closely on tumors. The new cancer treatment called image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) is being offered at the university hospital of Leuven using equipment from Varian Medical Systems.
Clinicians at UZ Gasthuisberg are using a new Clinac® medical linear accelerator equipped with an On-Board Imager(TM) device to capture high-quality images of tumors at the time of treatment. The fully automated device enables medical staff to sharpen their aim on the tumor by quickly repositioning patients on the treatment couch immediately prior to treatment.
The system takes radiographic, fluoroscopic and 3D conebeam CT images to give clinicians an optimum view of the tumor site and surrounding bones, organs and soft tissue. Using this information, they can adjust the position of the patient automatically without having to re-enter the treatment room, avoiding the need for time-consuming manual adjustments and ensuring the busy center can avoid longer treatment times and growing waiting lists for their patients. Dr. Karin Haustermans, professor in radiation oncology, said, "This is a major benefit because it means these improved imaging techniques can be introduced without putting too much pressure on the system."
Prior to the advent of IGRT, radiation oncologists had to contend with variations in patient positioning and with respiratory motion by treating a relatively large margin of healthy tissue around the tumor. IGRT enables doctors to minimize the volume of healthy tissue exposed to the treatment beam. Potentially, image data from IGRT tools like the On-Board Imager device will be used to note changes in tumor size and shape over a course of treatment, and make real-time adaptations to the treatment plan.
All prostate cancer patients at the hospital are imaged using the On-Board Imager device's radiographic mode immediately prior to treatment. In August, the hospital used the imager for the first time to capture a 3D conebeam CT image of a 62-year-old rectal cancer patient.
"We were very impressed with the conebeam CT image and online matching with the original CT image worked perfectly," adds Dr. Haustermans. "As the patient is male we were also able to check the prostate, which was very visible despite the lack of markers." Images from the new device are also incorporated into the hospital's ongoing research programs, including major studies on image guided radiotherapy and PET imaging for rectal cancer.
Varian's Acuity(TM) imager for treatment planning and verification is also used at the hospital for patient set-up, especially for rectal cancer patients who lie on a "belly-board" and cannot therefore have conventional CT scans.
UZ Gasthuisberg treats up to 200 patients per day on four Varian Clinac® linear accelerators, with a fifth machine due to be installed in the near future. The hospital was one of the earliest in Europe to introduce intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), a more accurate treatment process that limits side effects while enabling doses to be increased by automatically shaping beams to match the shape of the tumor. The hospital is now using IMRT for prostate, head & neck, oesophagus and rectal cancer treatments.
Walter Frei, head of Varian's oncology systems business in Europe, says, "This leading scientific center is a great example of how these advanced radiotherapy techniques are being put into practice in a routine clinical fashion. In addition to improving precision, our systems focus on automation and fast, comfortable treatment processes, which makes them particularly suitable for busy centers such as this one." |
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| To: JakeStraw who wrote (176) | 10/2/2006 3:12:15 PM | | From: Peter Dierks | | | | Doctors at CentraState Medical Center Target Prostate Cancer More Precisely Using 2-D and 3-D Imaging
FREEHOLD, N.J., Oct. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Clinicians at CentraState Medical Center in Freehold, New Jersey, are offering a novel image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) treatment for prostate cancer patients using advanced 2-D and 3-D imaging technology from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) to target tumors more precisely.
"This new approach to treating prostate cancer enables us to do a better job of preserving the surrounding healthy tissues in order to improve outcomes and reduce complications for our patients," said Brian Chon, MD, radiation oncologist on staff at CentraState
Frank Simacek, 67, a retired IBM engineer who now works part-time, has just completed an eight-week course of treatment with Chon. Several months ago, Simacek's PSA level rose, indicating the possibility of prostate cancer. A subsequent biopsy confirmed that he had cancer.
"We discussed the options with Frank and settled on a strategy of delivering a high radiation dose using image-guided external-beam radiotherapy," Chon said. "We are using intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) to shape beams and modulate dose intensity while using IGRT to target the tumor with millimeter accuracy."
Chon's team uses Varian's On-Board Imager(TM) device, an automated, robotic imager mounted on the treatment machine, to generate radiographic X-ray images at the beginning of each treatment session to line up the radiotherapy beam with the tumor. Gold seeds implanted in the prostate made it easier to see and target the tumor, which typically shifts from day to day.
"We were amazed by the variability of the tumor position each day," Chon commented. "The prostate gland moves around inside the body a lot more than you might imagine. It is not unusual to see it shift as much as a centimeter, due to the contents of the bowel or bladder. Using Varian's imaging device, we are able to make sure we're actually treating the prostate every day. Otherwise we'd risk missing parts of the tumor on some days."
The CentraState team also generates 3-D cone-beam CT X-ray images of the tumor weekly to measure the average amount of tumor motion for better treatment planning. "We're also able to fuse the 3-D images with data in our planning system, to calculate exactly how much dose is going to the prostate and each of the surrounding organs," Chon said. "We see 2-D radiographic and 3-D cone-beam CT imaging serving different purposes," said Jan Dragotta, clinical director. "We use cone-beam CT as a tool for adapting the treatment plan according to changes in patient anatomy. We can take a cone-beam CT image and superimpose it onto treatment plan images. That shows us how a plan may need to be modified. We use the 2-D radiographic imaging for positioning our IMRT patients, and it works beautifully. We've become so efficient with the 2-D imaging; we're saving 30-45 minutes per day setting patients up for treatment. That means we can treat another 2-3 patients each day. When you're a community hospital with a one-machine radiation oncology department, that efficiency is important."
Simacek reports that he went right on working, and that he has not experienced any side effects or drop in energy during his course of treatment. He also says that the technology used to treat his prostate cancer is "pretty amazing. I saw a lot of impressive technology over a 30- year career with IBM, and I have to tell you, this technology is pretty neat stuff.
"But just as important, in my mind, was the caliber of the staff at CentraState, including the doctors, nurses, and therapists," he added. "They answered all my questions professionally and courteously. They greeted all patients with a smile, created a relaxed atmosphere, and showed concern about my well being as well as that of all the other patients."
About CentraState
CentraState Healthcare System is a non-profit community health organization consisting of an acute-care hospital, three senior living centers, a health education and activities center, a family medicine residency program, and a charitable foundation. It is a member of the Robert Wood Johnson Health Network and a clinical research affiliate of The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center.
About Varian Medical Systems, Inc.
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 3,280 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 varian.com. |
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