Tuesday, February 19, 2008

First Patient Undergoes Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy Treatment

Filed under: Oncology

Elekta AB, a Swedish firm, is reporting that its new radiation therapy system has been successfully implemented by docs on the first patient in General Hospital Vienna:

VMAT technology provides a simultaneous control of the linear accelerator gantry position and speed, the leaves and angle of the multileaf collimator and dose rate. This flexibility enables highly conformal cancer treatments, as well as optimal sparing of the healthy tissue around the target. In addition, VMAT significantly reduces patient treatment times, leading to greater patient comfort and stillness for a more efficient and precise treatment.

Dietmar Georg, Ph.D., head of the Division of Medical Radiation Physics at General Hospital Vienna (Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria) says the first patient was treated for glioblastoma, a serious brain tumor that was positioned near vital structures such as the brain stem and optical lenses and nerves. The treatment consisted of three non-coplanar VMAT arcs with collimator rotation. The entire treatment took just 10 minutes, including creation and evaluation of the patient’s brain images and treatment positioning.

“This therapy is applied in very complex situations where the localization and form of the tumor requires tailored intensity modulated treatment,” says Dr. Georg.

General Hospital Vienna used its existing Elekta Synergy® S system to perform the VMAT treatment, along with Elekta’s next generation linear accelerator control software. Elekta’s VMAT solution also includes ERGO++ treatment planning system for rotational therapy, and MOSAIQ™ image-enabled oncology Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system. This complete VMAT solution is now available in upgrades to existing Elekta accelerators.

Product page: Elekta Synergy ...

Press release: First Clinical Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy Treatment Completed with Elekta Synergy® S at General Hospital Vienna ...

Brochure: Volumetric Intensity Modulated Arc Therapy (.pdf)...

Flashbacks: Elekta Compact™ Linear Accelerator ; Leksell Gamma Knife® PERFEXION™ System

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