Verity Radiation Therapy Becomes Second U.S. Medical Center to Treat Cancer Patients Using RapidArc(TM) Radiotherapy Technology

PLANO, Texas, May 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Earlier this week,
Verity Radiation Therapy, at The Texas Clinic at Prestonwood, became the
second medical center in the United States to commence treating cancer
patients with RapidArc(TM) radiotherapy technology from Varian Medical
Systems (NYSE: VAR) earlier this week. RapidArc is an advanced form of
image-guided, intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) that can be
delivered two to eight times faster than is possible with conventional IMRT
or helical tomotherapy.

"We delivered our first RapidArc treatment yesterday, to a patient with
prostate cancer who was about two weeks into an eight and a half week
course of traditional IMRT treatments," said Dr. Ed Gilbert, radiation
oncologist. "Before, his treatments were taking about 10 minutes each day
to complete. Yesterday, using the RapidArc approach, we completed the
entire process in about 6 minutes. That included positioning the patient,
taking images, adjusting his position, and delivering the treatment. Actual
treatment delivery was completed in less than 90 seconds, compared to five
and a half minutes with the conventional approach."

source: PR Newswire