Clinicians at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Health System First in World to Use "Triggered Imaging" Technology From Varian Medical Systems

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Nov. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Health System became the first medical center in the world last week to utilize intrafraction motion review (IMR), or "triggered imaging," to continually monitor tumor location during radiosurgery for lung cancer. IMR, which is a unique capability of the TrueBeam™ linear accelerator from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) enables visual verification that a tumor is being properly targeted.

"With triggered imaging, clinicians use the imager on the TrueBeam system to observe the targeted tumor repeatedly, at a predetermined portion of the respiratory cycle, in order to check on the tumor's location and trajectory," said Chris Toth, senior director of marketing at Varian. "If the tumor is not where it is supposed to be, they can halt treatment and intervene to enhance the accuracy of the targeting."

Doctors at UAB used the IMR tool for the first time earlier this month when delivering a Gated RapidArc radiosurgery treatment for inoperable early-stage lung cancer. RapidArc enables fast, precise image-guided IMRT (intensity-modulated radiotherapy) by delivering dose continuously as the treatment machine rotates around the patient. Gated RapidArc makes it possible to monitor patient breathing and compensate for tumor motion during a RapidArc treatment. The Gating system turns the treatment beam on and off in synchrony with the patient's breathing to increase treatment precision. With IMR, or "triggered imaging," the gating system also triggers the imager to generate a low-dose X-ray of the targeted tumor at a specific point in the patient's respiratory cycle.

source: Varian Medical Systems